the failure of limited war Flashcards
(5 cards)
topic sentence
Some historians such as Alan Farmer argue that the failure of limited war was the most significant reason in forcing Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
evidence 1 - failure of limited war
When Civil war broke out in April 1861, Lincoln was determined to maintain a ‘limited war’, meaning that there were restrictions on the weapons used, nations or territories involved, and objects used, if the destruction of slavery was introduced as a Northern war aim, this policy would be difficult to maintain. As time progressed, Lincolns administration realised that they’d have to address the issue of slavery to win the war. Events such as the Seven Day Battle, June 25th to July 1st, 1862, convinced Lincoln that he was going to have to switch up his war aims. The Seven Day Battle was a series of battles near Richmond, Virginia when Confederate Gerneral Lee forced Union General McClellan’s troops to retreat, ending the Peninsula campaign (a Union attempts to capture the Confederate Capital, Richmond). This (and other) Confederate victories shocked Lincoln as he believed that the war would be an easy Northern victory due to the military advantages that they held over the Confederacy. For example, the Union army consisted of nearly 7 million white males, compared to only 2 million in the Southern army and the North had a much larger industrial capacity than the south. Therefore, Alan Farmer argues, “From the start the North had a considerable manpower advantage”,hhighlighting the Unions advantages
analysis
As a result of this, Lincoln began to consider the introduction of the emancipation of slaves as a union war aim, with the intention of weakening the confederate war effort as their economy was fully revolved around slavery. Although not being allowed to fight for the Confederacy until the last few days of the war, slaves were able to take part in a range of occupations which ensured the continuation of the confederacs war effort. Emancipation would mean the end to this.
counter analysis
However, up until 1862, Lincoln expressed his views on the slavery issue, saying “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery”, suggesting that he did not see a slavery as a vital war issue to be addressed.
evaluation
To evaluate, the failure of a limited war was an important factor in forcing Lincoln to pass the Emancipation Proclamation, indeed, Susan Mary Grant argues that the war could not be fought and won without factoring in the issue of slavery, and this was making it hard to maintain a limited policy, suggesting that Lincoln could not win the war without emancipating Southern slaves.
