The Civil War 1860-1865 - Union Mobilization

ASU HST 200 (Historical Themes) The Civil War, 1860–1865 Union Mobilization It turned out that North Carolina had an easier time mobilizing for war than did the South. Like its counterpart in the South, the federal government in Washington, DC, made several measures to defeat the Confederacy during the war. Republicans in Congress significantly increased government intervention to support the war effort and the development of Union infrastructure, affecting the daily lives of residents through policies like additional taxes. Additionally, the government entered into contracts with significant providers of food, weaponry, and other necessities. The Northern economy was almost entirely entwined with the war effort. The majority party in Congress, the Republicans, sought to prevent slavery from entering the recently occupied western regions, and in 1862 they approved a number of laws to that effect. First, Northerners were generously encouraged to migrate to the West and establish farms under the Homestead Act. If settlers improved the land and lived there for five years, they could claim 160 acres of government land. The measure sought to boost agricultural productivity for the war effort in addition to encouraging free-labor farmers to relocate west. The federal government also focused on building a transcontinental railroad to enable the easier transportation of people and products throughout the nation. Congress established the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific as well as gave substantial funding for these two firms to build train connections across the nation. The 1862 Land Grant College Act, often known as the Morrill Act after its author, Vermont Republican senator Justin Smith Morrill, was likewise impacted by the Republican focus on free work as opposed to enslaved labor. The bill allowed for the establishment of agricultural colleges to educate the most recent agricultural technology. These universities would be supported by government subsidies. Thirty thousand acres of federal property would be made available to each state in the Union for the use of these higher education institutions. Congress employed a number of tactics to finance the war. They imposed taxes on all inheritances as well as the income of the rich. They also implemented exorbitant tariffs. Ultimately, in 1863 and 1864, they approved two National Bank Acts, urging the U.S. Treasury will print war bonds, and Union banks will purchase them. The Union's effort to persuade people to purchase the bonds contributed to a rise in sales. The Legal Tender Act of 1862, which mandated the printing of paper money, or "greenbacks," was also approved by Republicans Figure 15.11. The Northern economy flourished and some $150 million worth of greenbacks were made legal money, but this also led to significant inflation. The Union used conscription, much as the Confederacy, to get the soldiers it needed for the conflict. Congress approved the Enrollment Act in March 1863, which mandated that all males, married or single, between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five (including immigrant men who had applied for citizenship), register with the Union in order to serve in the Civil War. Every person who enrolled was required to serve in the military, and draftees were chosen using a lottery method 15.12). Similar to the South, a legal loophole permitted people to hire replacements if they could afford it. Others might stay out of the military by giving the federal government $300. African Americans were excluded from the conscription because they were not citizens, in accordance with the ruling made by the Supreme Court in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford. Similar to the Confederacy, the Union likewise suspended the right to habeas corpus, allowing anyone who were thought to have pro-Confederate sentiments to be detained without being informed of their detention's purpose. In an attempt to guarantee the safety of the Union capital, Lincoln had selectively suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the slave state of Maryland in 1861 and 1862, which was home to numerous Confederate supporters. He was able to hold suspected Confederate agents across the Union once he signed the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act into law in March 1863. During the war, the Lincoln government also banned 300 periodicals as a national security precaution. The American Civil War significantly expanded the authority of the warring governments in both the North and the South. Both the Confederacy and the Union used the authority of their central governments to mobilize resources and people, shattering all previous records in American history.