Role Of Abraham Lincoln In Civil War

Essay, Research Paper

As President of the United States Abraham Lincoln not only played a major role during the civil war but also in the events preceding the war and his presidency. Lincoln was running for President in a country united by law but separated by political, social and economic differences. After winning office Abraham Lincoln had to deal with the issue of the Southern states seceding and also the outbreak of civil war. In conducting the civil war Lincoln had to successfully address an array of specific and inter-related issues if Union victory was to be attained. These include; marshalling the American economy to meet the tremendous war needs of several million soldiers, raising a citizen’s army of volunteers willing to be trained and to die for the Union, adopting war strategies for the Union Army, handling foreign affairs, dealing with the problem of slavery without destroying the democratic freedoms upon which the nation was founded.

As Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, contended for the role of president in a nation engulfed by sectional division, the southern states were threatening to seclude themselves from the Union. The dynamic force at work in the crisis was southern perception of the Republican Party, not merely as a political opposition, but as a hostile, revolutionary organisation bent on total destruction of the slaveholding system. The beliefs of the Republican Party, according to an Alabama senator, was as strong an incitement and invocation to servile insurrection, to murder, arson, and other crimes, as any to be found in abolition literature. Republicans must be dealt with as enemies, said North Carolina newspaper; their policies would put a torch to their dwellings and a knife to their throat.

As soon as the election results were known southern leaders moved to carry out a threat many northerners refused to take seriously: to secede from the Union. Many southerners believed that their section would be discriminated against by an administration made up of opponents. His first inauguration speech, delivered on March 4, 1861, was firm but amiable. He reaffirmed his promise not “to interfere with slavery” where it existed, and he assured the Confederate states that he would not “assail” them for their actions of secession. On the other hand, Lincoln made it clear that he would “hold, occupy, and possess the property, and places belonging to the government . . .” He pleaded with the Southerners: “We must not be enemies.” He reminded them that no state could leave the Union “upon its own mere motion,” and pledged to enforce the laws, “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.”

As the southern states seceded they seized most of the federal forts within their boundaries. Lincoln had to decide whether the remaining forts should be strengthened. He also had to decide whether to try and retake the forts already in Southern hands. Fort Sumter became a symbol of an indivisible Union. If Lincoln withdrew the troops garrisoned there, a storm of protest would arise in the north. If he reinforced Fort Sumter, the South would consider it an act of war. As a compromise, Lincoln decided to send only provisions to the troops, whose supplies were running low. He informed South Carolina of his intention but it s leader considered it as a hostile act and demanded that the fort be surrendered unto the south. On the morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate guns fired on Fort Sumter. After a thirty-three-hour attack and exchange of fire, Major Anderson, commander of the federal arsenal at Fort Sumter, surrendered the fort and the Civil War had begun.

The American Civil War that followed Fort Sumter’s surrender involved fundamental strategies on both sides that altered little over time. For the Union, Lincoln adopted the so-called “Anaconda strategy”, which required the encirclement of the Confederacy by securing the border states. This was also supplemented by massive naval blockades in the South by the Union Navy. Within a year, Lincoln modified the plan to include invasion of the South. Lincoln appointed and replaced his generals at a pace that most observers considered unwise. In his mind, however, he wanted commanders who could win battles, pursue defeated armies, and engage the enemy no matter the cost in lives or materials.

In raising the Union armies Lincoln called for 42,000 volunteers for national service for three years and authorised an increase of 23,000 in the regular army. These number were higher then the limit set by Law but Lincoln saw it as imperative to the saving of the Union. The volunteering system raised the Union armies numbers quite substantially but soon enthusiasm wore off and congress had to introduce the first national draft in American history. Lincoln accepted conscription as a necessary measure, which he hoped would spur more volunteers who could avoid the draft by serving for shorter terms.

Lincoln had the good fortune of appointing several efficient cabinet members responsible for leading and preparing the American economy for war. Under the direction of Abraham Lincoln these cabinet members financed the war from three principle sources: taxation, loans, and paper money issues. Not until 1862 when mounting war expenses forced the country to face realities, did Congress pass an adequate war tax bill. Then it enacted the Internal Reve