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Lessons of the Civil War
by J R Casey Bralla
Recently I've been reading one
of those "What If" history books that explores how history would have
changed if certain events (which could easily have occurred differently)
had occurred differently. One of the areas the book talks about is the
Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln's role in it. In reading this book, I
learned some things about the war which typically do not make it into 6th
grade history class. Many of these things strike me as relevant to today's
Iraqi war debate.
Ferocious Anti-War Sentiment
The most surprising thing (to me) was how ferociously the war had been
opposed by a very large percentage of northerners. The first few years of
the war went very badly for the Union, as the southern generals
outmaneuvered their northern counterparts. Loss of life was horrific.
Lincoln, a Republican, had dedicated his entire presidency to keeping "one
nation, indivisible", while a large portion of the Democratic party (the
"Peace Democrats") felt the war could never be won, and that a settlement
should be made with the Confederacy. [The Confederacy had the strategic
advantage: they only had to keep from loosing. The Union had to win. A
stalemate would be victory for the Confederacy.] The war was being fought
in northern states such as Pennsylvania, not the deep south.
While partisanship (which seems intense, even by today's standards) may
have been partly responsible for this anti-war feeling, the costs of the
war were huge and obvious, and the benefits less well obvious. When the
draft was expanded, there were anti-draft riots in New York City. Many
people had very logically concluded that the North could not prevail, and
that settlement terms should be negotiated that would stop the bloodshed.
Ruthless Suppression of
Democracy
Border states, such as Illinois, had the strongest anti-war sentiment. In
those states, Lincoln was ruthless in suppressing legitimate democratic
institutions to keep the Democrats from winning elections. The army even
attacked Democratic party conventions and arrested Democratic leaders.
Minor details such as habeas corpus and a public trial by your peers were
conveniently forgotten. Lincoln had the power of life and death over
American citizens. There was no such thing as any type of judicial review.
The opposition became so intense that there was even another secessionist
movement which attempted to form a "Northwest Confederacy" (the
"Northwest" consisted of places like Ohio and Illinois in those days)
which would force a halt to the war by effectively dissolving the Union.
Lincoln had the leaders of this group arrested and tried by military
tribunals. The tribunals sentenced many of them to death, but delayed
executing them on Lincoln's request. (Lincoln had intended to pardon them
after the war was over, but his assassination prevented him from carrying
out this plan. Several were executed.)
Anything Other
Than Complete Victory Is Failure
Another thing I found fascinating was the way Northerners viewed the
military campaign. Anything other than total victory was viewed as a
defeat. Union General McClellan (who, to Lincoln's intense displeasure,
was very cautious by nature) often refrained from pressing his battlefield
victories and therefore allowed Confederate armies to regroup and fight
again after they had lost key battles. The Northern press therefore
reported not the victory of a particular battle, but the loss of the
opportunity to crush the Confederacy.
After a few particularly bad Union military defeats, Lincoln realized that
slaves were fighting for the Confederacy, and considered emancipating them
to bring them to the Union side. He refrained from doing this, however,
because he felt that this would be viewed as an act of desperation by the
Union. Later, the Emancipation Proclamation further enraged the Peace
Democrats (especially in the slave-sympathetic border states) since it
changed the justification of the war from "keeping the union together" to
"freeing the slaves".
Reelection Troubles
The problems of the war, and the intense and widespread anti-war feelings,
were felt to doom Lincoln's re-election drive. The congressional midterm
elections went badly for the Republicans. General McClellan, who Lincoln
had sacked in favor of General Grant, became the Democratic candidate
against him. It was not until Sherman reached Atlanta and started
destroying the south one city at a time, that Lincoln's political fate
improved. He eventually won the election with only 55% of the vote, which
means 45% of the white male voters opposed him.
Lincoln, as we all know, was assassinated shortly after his re-election.
(His vice president, Andrew Johnson, had also been targeted for
assassination, but his would-be assassin chickened out.) The political
conflicts present for Lincoln continued during reconstruction, and reached
fever pitch with the impeachment of Johnson. Schoolbooks today
lionize Lincoln as the savior of our nation, but almost half the
population at the time felt he was divisive, and unworthy of being
president.
So what are
the lessons of History?
1. War has never been popular with Americans. We see the horrible costs of
war, and find it difficult to view the long-term gains as worth the cost.
2. We tend to forget the conflicts that have wracked our democratic
system, preferring the think in terms of a harmonious, progressive,
manifest destiny which got us here.
3. We have always wanted quick fixes to our problems. Anything less than
immediate victory is viewed as a failure.
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