Mobilisation Cont.

The Emancipation Proclamation:

The war was going badly for the North. Finally, Lincoln decided "that we... must change out tactics, or lose the game." (p480) On September 22, 1862, he advertised that if the rebelling states did not rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, he would issue a proclamation freeing their slaves. The South ignored this warning, so on New Year's Day, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Union then was not only fighting for the unity of their country, but fighting to free the slaves as well. (P480)

Northern Prosperity:

A period of booming prosperity occurred as the North was plunged into war. The government's need for military equipment and supplies tremendously stimulated industry and farming. Expanding industries included the iron and steel works, the wool industry, the shoe industry, munitions, railroads and coal mining. The war forced the economy to utilise techniques of mass production such as sewing machines and harvesters, and settlers moving westward expanded the nation.

The Southern Economy:

The strong demands of war strained the Southern economy almost to breaking point. The Confederacy lacked the industry to support its armies and civilians. Imports dwindled as Northern ironclads seized shipping and blockaded major Southern ports. Confederate troops were never as well equipped their enemies. For example, Union factories could produce over five thousand rifles a day, whereas the South could only deal out about three hundred a day. The war gradually used up all Southern resources. People made clothes out of carpets and curtains, and printed newspapers on the back of wallpaper. Flour sometimes cost $300 a barrel, and shoes $200 a pair as wild inflation set in. Although most Southerners supported the war effort with fury, shortages of the basic necessities of life weakened the people's will to fight.

Cotton Diplomacy:

At the beginning of the war, Southern leaders felt sure that Europe would come to its aid. Because Great Britain and France depended on Southern cotton for their textile industries, Southerners believed that a shortage of cotton would force them to attack the North. But the South failed to obtain European aid through its "cotton diplomacy". Britain and France said they would not intervene unless the South could prove it possible to win a great victory over the Union. That never happened. However, Britain and France did allow six ironclads to be built in their shipyards. The most famous, the Alabama , caused millions of dollars worth of damage to Union shipping before it was sunk by the Union ironclad Kearsarge in 1864.