1. Politics of War

2. After today you should be able to answer the following questions:
What obstacles did the Union face politically and diplomatically during the war?
What impact did the Emancipation Proclamation have on the politics of war?
Why did riots occur throughout northern cities, and what was the response of the government?

3. Great Britain South wants England as an ally The Trent Affair
England now has no use for Southern cotton (India)
BUT, England relies on Northern wheat and corn
The Trent Affair
CSA sends two men to try to talk with GB
1861, Union captures them aboard a British mail ship, the Trent
The British outraged, claimed the seizure of a neutral ship by the U.S. Navy was a violation of international law.
Britain threatens war - sends 8,000 men to Canada
Lincoln avoids war with Britain through diplomacy
Britain chooses to remain neutral throughout the war

4. Cap’n Charles Wilkes

5. CSA Envoys to Britain
James Murray Mason
John Slidell

7. Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln - disliked slavery, but didn’t think the federal government had the power to abolish it.
Issues the E.P. because:
His desire to win the war
Keep Britain from entering war
Slaves were being used behind the lines

8. Pausing before he signed the final Proclamation, Lincoln reportedly said:
I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right that I do in signing this paper.

9. Emancipation Proclamation
January 1st, 1863
Only applied to slaves outside Union control and behind Confederate lines
Reactions:
North - most people happy, especially free blacks (allowed to enlist in the military). Some thought it was a way of antagonizing South.
South - outraged; no hope of a compromise. Made South even more determined to win the war

10. Dark blue = free Union states
Red = Confederacy
Light blue = Union states where slavery still existed

11. Emancipation from Freedmen's viewpoint; illustration from Harper's Weekly 1865

12. A Union soldier reads the Emancipation Proclamation to newly freed slaves. After Lincoln signed the Proclamation, celebrations took place throughout the country.

14. Problems & Drama…
Both North and the South has people sympathetic to the other side
Baltimore crowd attacked a Union regiment
Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus:
A court order that a person being jailed needs to be brought to the court to determine why they are in jail
Why was it issued?
Disloyalty and dissent among Confederate sympathizers in Maryland
The need to protect the Union army from CSA sympathizers

15. Pratt Street Riot - Baltimore

17. Disloyalty Among those arrested were Copperheads
Northern Democrats that advocated peace with CSA
Both Union and CSA pass conscription laws…Why?
Heavy casualties and desertion
The need to win the war
South: could buy your way out of the draft by paying for a substitute (could also buy your way out in the North)
Planters with 20+ slaves exempt

22. Draft Riots New York City (1863)
Lower-class white workers were angered about having to fight a war to free slaves…WHY?
Low wages, bad living conditions, and high unemployment among the lower class stirred up a mob mentality and racism
July 13-16: Riots!!!
By the time federal stopped it more than 100 people were dead and Lincoln declared marshal law in the city

24. Rioters and Federal Troops Clash