Abraham Lincoln in the Period of the Civil War - Essay Example

?Full s Teacher’s s American Civil War The South Abraham Lincoln was the president of the Unites s of America in the period when the Civil War took place; between 1860 and 1865. The American public was subject to several forces of division and rebellion that caused tension to a unified country. The United States was composed of states willing to overcome the rebellious calls by the group of nations referred to as the Confederacy. Secession was the theme of the Civil War where the Confederacy that constituted 11 nations, wanted to bring down the Union through their withdrawal. Certain reasons fueling the rebellion charges by the confederate stood out in the Civil War. Among the most conspicuous charges chanted by the rebellion was the continuation of slavery among the Confederate States of America. Whereas the United States indicated its intentions to abolish slavery through well calculated moves and policies, the Confederates held the opinion that abolition would be a socioeconomic disaster for the country. Many abolitionists hailed from the north, and secession from the south was taken as an insult to the integrity of the American dream of equality for all Americans (Davis et al. 23). Slavery was concentrated in the south, and its expansion into the north was seen as a looming socioeconomic danger to the Union and compelling the abolitionists to declaration war. The call to secede was also a move against the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1960. Apparently, Lincoln was instrumental in antislavery campaigns and the Confederate States knew that his administration would not support their opinion on a slave labor-driven economy. As an illustration, among the 996 electoral counties from which secession was demanded, Lincoln only managed to win two counties. Secession was fueled by the fear that Lincoln would impose his position on slave labor, thereby endangering the economy of the Confederate States as well that of the United States. By the establishment of controls in respect of slavery and its eventual abolition in 1820 across the world, the United States pledged its support for a free world, and, therefore, had to act to eliminate slavery across all member states. In addition, nearly all of the southern states had common ways of getting slaves; through purchase or conquest. In view of the diversity of the southern states in terms of their heterogeneity with the rest of the states, conflicts always cropped up. Among the most prevalent conflicts was the territorial uncertainty by the subjects. Despite the fact that the issue of economic reliance on slave labor characterized the tension, certain acquisition techniques did not resolve identity crises for certain groups of people. Common slaveholding characteristics of the southern nations posed a major threat to entry into the Union. New entrants into the Union had to reorganize and adapt to the northern cultural and political environment, or find a way out, leading to the confusion (Garraty 56). Lincoln’s insistence on strength for all border states and oneness in the Union throughout the campaign provided enough support for the Union’s victory. The initial intention of the confederation rebellion was to spread its slavery ideologies to back the economy, but the resistance at the border front effectively facilitated defeat for the Confederate States. Whereas the crashing of the nucleus of the secessionist movement was key in the deliberation of the relationship between the two blocs, Lincoln knew that its neutralization at the neighboring countries was vital to the realization of success. The war broke between the two States’ blocs, and despite the huge population advantage as well as industrial resources held by the north compared to the south, it was a difficult battle to win. Abraham Lincoln led the Union to war, and the initial onus was the mobilization of the military into the war. However, it appeared to be a difficult war. Despite the numerical disadvantage held by the south in the war, the Confederate States managed to hold on for five years. In view of the actual strategy employed by the southerners, critics relate the long war duration to a defeat delaying tactic by the Confederate States since their fate was almost predictable from the magnitude of the opposition from the north. The leadership qualities of Abraham Lincoln almost made it difficult for the Confederate States to overcome the organization of the war machineries from the north. There are certain strengths in the Lincoln administration that stand out clearly for the accurate approach employed towards the victory witnessed in the war. Firstly, Lincoln entrusted the mobilization of the Union’s military offensive to Ulysses S. Grant, an excellent general whose outstanding performance delivered nearly instant success to the Union. Unlike his counterparts in the Confederate wing, led by Robert E. Lee, General Ulysses complemented his president’s ideas in the approach to handle the rebellion. His fierce thoroughness in the war presented the northern forces as the most motivated of the two sides, thereby winning an important battle concept (Gates 402). Lincoln’s strategy, however, was not entirely a military intensive approach as he involved different concepts in the war. As illustrated in the indirect war strategy below, the strength of the offensive was partly military and partly non-military. Secondly, Lincoln advocated for a war policy that would have little bloodshed as an outcome of the engagement with the Confederate States. Several approaches were devised to kill the cessation ideology within the country, and Lincoln was instrumental in throttling the war abilities of the Confederate States. The implementation of indirect war tactics by the Union such as blockades crippled the military potential held by the opposition. The commonest economic blockade against the Confederate States is the Anaconda Plan which effectively throttled the economic life of the Confederate States. It increasingly became impossible for the rebellion to be sustainable and a direct assault on the weakened military and economy effortlessly placed victory in the hands of the Union. Trade through the Confederate States with the outside world was brought to a halt and supplies in form of food, weapons as well as foreign revenues were cut off. Under the circumstances of an economy operating without supply lines by sea, rail and road connection, the fall of the Confederate Nations was imminent. Additionally, Lincoln as the president of the Union declared the emancipation of all slaves liberated during the war and therefore destroyed the holding link on which cessation calls were based (Nash 320). Initially, the military did not have specific instructions on whether to hand freed slaves back to their maters. Lincoln’s declaration of freedom of all slaves not only weakened the Confederation’s position on the benefits of free slave labor but also opened channels for an equitable Union including the liberated territory. The fight for the American dream of equality as authored by Lincoln implied that the slaves had a better place in the American society and he demonstrated this by allowing the liberated slaves to join the military. As an illustration, at the end of the war, over 170,000 former southern slaves had successfully enrolled with the Union army, despite initially being destined for cheap labor in the south. According to the author, the Union navy equally recruited as many as 19,000 black men who were in turn deployed to support the offensive against their former masters. The move of transforming the slave status was damaging to the ideologies of the southerners who would not use slaves in their military offensive. Southerners held the opinion that slaves should remain as such and their inclusion in such a task would contradict their support for slavery across the Confederate States. Works Cited Davis, Allen F., Frederick, Peter J., Howe, John R., Jeffrey, Julie Roy, Mires, Charlene., Nash, Gary. B., Pestana, Carla Gardina, & Winkler, Allan M., The American people: Creating a nation and a society, Vol. 1: To 1877 (7th Edn), New York, NY: Longman. 2005. Print. Garraty, John A. Historical viewpoints, Vol. 1: To 1877 (9th Edn) New York, NY: Longman. 2002. Print. Gates, Henry Louis. The classic slave narratives, New York, NY: Signet Classics. 2002. Print Nash, Gary. The American people: creating a nation and a society. 2000. New York. Longman Publishing. Read More