Understanding the Differing Sides of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln introduces in his a “House Divided” Speech with the following:
“If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has only not ceased but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand (Lincoln, 1858).”
By the spring of 1861, the United States had become, according to Abraham Lincoln, “a house divided”. South
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The Union contained an established government and a standing army, numbering fewer than seventeen thousand troops at the war’s opening. The Northern states also manipulated most of the nation’s industrial capacity. Northern factories manufactured more than ninety percent of the country’s footwear, ninety-four percent of its cloth, and ninety-seven percent of its firearms. The Union states possessed more than twice as many miles of railroad track as the Confederacy. Finally, the North retained about three times as many white military-age men as the South. Lincoln primarily called for seventy-five thousand militiamen to suppress the rebellion and liberate the Union. Like most Northerners, he expected a short war.
Although the North occupied a plethora of strengths, the South had abundance as well. First and foremost is cotton- a commodity extremely valuable as it was known as “white gold”. In exchange for cotton, European nations were willing to supply the Confederacy with weapons and other manufactured goods. If the South broke through the North’s blockade of ports, it would find access to European support. In addition, the Southern states have soldiers highly motivated to defend their homeland and their way of life. Nonetheless many Southern