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Lincoln's election provoked the secession of seven states of deep south but did not lead immediately to armed conflict. Before
the sectional quarrel would turn from a cold war into a hot one, two things happen: A final effort to defuse the conflict
by compromise and conciliation had to fail, and the North needed to develop a firm resolve to maintain the Union by military
action. Both of these developments may seem inevitable in retrospect, but for the most of those living at the time, it was
clear until the guns blazed at Fort Sumter that sectional crisis would have to be resolved on the battlefield.
The Civil War was a "total war" involving every aspect of society because the North could achieve it's aim of
restoring the Union only by defeating the South so thoroughly that it's separatists government would be overthrown. It was
a long war because the Confederacy put up " a hell of a fight" before it would agree to be put to death. Total war
is a test of societies, economies, and political systems, as well as a battle of wits between generals and military strategists..and
the Civil War was no exception.
The last couple of years of the struggle saw the implementation of more radical war measures. The most dramatic and unimportant
of these was the North's effort to follow through on Lincoln's decision to free black slaves and bring the black population
into the war on the Union's side. The tide of battle turned in the summer of 1863, but the South continued to resist valiantly
for two more years, until it was finally overcome by the sheer weight of the North's advantages in manpower and resources.
The nation emerged from four years of total war was not the same America that had split apart in 1861. The 618,000 young
men who were in their graves, victims of enemy fire, or the diseases that spread rapidly in Military encampments in this era
before modern medicine and sanitation, would otherwise had married, raised families, and contributed their talents to building
up the country. The widows and sweethearts they left behind temporarily increased the proportion of unmarried women in the
population, and some members of this generation of involuntary "spinsters" sought new opportunities for making a
living or serving the community that went beyond the purely domestic roles previously prescribed by women.
Important Facts-
~Cooperationist- believed slave states should act as an unit.
~Crittendon Compromise- extended the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific to guarantee the production of slavery in
the South -western territories and in any territories south of the line that might be acquired in the future.
~Anaconda Policy- the North would squeeze the South into submission by blockading the southern coast, taking control of
the Mississippi, cutting off food supply and other essential commodities.
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