 Confederate States of America was formed one month before Lincoln’s inauguration  “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”  Argued that secession was illegal  Says he will defend all federal properties in South

 Confederate soldiers took over Federal post offices, courts, military forts  Fort Sumter in SC and Fort Pickens in FL were still in Union hands  Confederacy demanded the union surrender the forts

 Commander: Major Anderson  Fort was still under construction, half the cannons had not been delivered yet  Vulnerable position  6 weeks worth of supplies left

 Needs to be resupplied  Fully armed  Defensible position

 Does not want to be seen as firing the first shots  VA, MD, DL, AK, KY, TN, NC, MO had not seceded  The public would be united if the south fired first  Does not want to give fort to confederacy: would be admitting they are sovereign  Wants to defend all federal properties  Does not want to be seen giving in to the south  General Winfield Scott recommends abandoning both forts for political reasons  To keep the border states in the Union.

 Lincoln orders supplies be sent to Fort Sumter ◦ “Food for hungry men”  Confederate troops open fire  Anderson surrenders

 Impact of Fort Sumter ◦ TN, VA, NC, AK secede ◦ MD, KY, DL, MO do not secede  Would have doubled manufacturing capacity of south  At times Lincoln declared martial law in these states ◦ North is united against rebellions: scores of men volunteer  War aim is to keep union together, not about slavery

 Larger Population  Large Manufacturing base  Controls most of the banking and capital of the country  Railroads  Loyal U.S. Navy

 Profits from cotton exports  Could fight a defensive war  First-rate generals  Soldiers who were highly motivated to defend their homeland

 Non-succesive six year terms for the President ◦ Jefferson Davis P ◦ Alexander Stephens VP  Denied congress power to levy tariff, spend money on internal improvements  Davis tried to increase executive powers but governors resisted

 Three Part Plan ◦ The Union navy would blockade southern ports  So the south could not import manufactured goods or sell cotton ◦ Union riverboats and armies would move down Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two ◦ Union armies would capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, VI

 Survive

 Wanted to see U.S. split in two ◦ Create a balance of power in North America ◦ Protect their colonies ◦ Potentially take new colonies-Napoleon III takes Mexico

 Two Confederate diplomats were on the British steamer the Trent ◦ Mission to gain recognition from British  Union warship arrested the diplomats  Britain threatened war if they were not released  Lincoln released them  They failed to gain British recognition of the Confederacy

 British sold warships to confederacy ◦ Alabama captured 60 vessels before being sunk  Confederacy arranged to buy Laird rams (ships with iron rams) from the British ◦ U.S. minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams convinced the British to cancel the sale

 Britain did not intervene in the war ◦ Had large stockpiles of cotton, also got cotton from Egypt and India ◦ Emancipation Proclamation made the war about slavery, British public would not support war for slavery

 North borrowed 2.6 billion  Instituted first income tax  Printed paper currency called Greenbacks not backed by gold causing inflation  Created National Bank  Growth in manufacturing industry

 Morill Tariff Act (1861) ◦ Raised tariff rates  Homestead Act (1862) ◦ 160 acres of land to person or family  Morill Land Grant Act (1862) ◦ Sale of federal lands would be used for agricultural and technical colleges  The Pacific Railway Act (1862) ◦ Transcontinental railroad through northern route

 Absence of men opened up jobs for women ◦ Operated farms or worked in factories  Opened up the field of nursing to women  Sparked women’s rights movement

 Principle of Habeas Corpus- a person cannot be held without being charged with a crime ◦ Written into the constitution

 On September 24th 1862 Lincoln suspended habeas corpus ◦ Can arrest anyone, for any reason, indefinitely ◦ Constitution states only congress can suspend habeas corpus in times of rebellion

 13,000 suspected confederate sympathizers were arrested and held without trial ◦ Included newspaper men and copperheads (Northern Democrats who wanted to make peace with the south) ◦ Most were released after a short period of time

 Some were put before a military tribunal  Military Tribunal- trial but without the protections of the constitution

 Lambdin Milligan was accused of planning to steal Union weapons  Found guilty by military tribunal and sentenced to death  Appealed to Supreme Court ◦ Ruled government cannot use military tribunals if civilian courts are still operational