Chapter Outline Apush Ch.15 - 1056 Words

Chapter 15: Crucible of Freedom: Civil War, 1861-1865 Both North and South were ill prepared for war in 1861. Initially dependent on volunteers, the Confederacy established a draft in 1862, and the Union did so the following year. At first the South relied on imported arms and munitions but soon was able to produce its own. It had more trouble with clothing and food throughout the duration of the war. Financing the war was also a problem. Americans had been unaccustomed to paying taxes to the national government, but both sides had to end the tradition of hard money and minimal government by raising taxes, issuing war bonds, and printing paper money. Inflation was serious in the North and devastating in the South by 1865. The†¦show more content†¦In the Sea Islands, black refugees took advantage of temporary reallocation of former plantation lands to form their own communities. By 1863 both sides were experiencing labor shortages, inflation, and dissension. With its superior resources, the Union met the challenge more effectively. Although the cotton-textile industry in the North was hurt, industries directly related to the war effort--arms manufacture, ready-made clothing, and railroads--flourished. The Republicans in Congress were able to act on their idea of free soil, free labor, free men and passed the Homestead Act and the Morrill Land Grant Act. Nevertheless, workers suffered during the war as wages lagged 20 percent or more behind price increases. The Southern economy was totally shattered by the war, as railroads were torn up, food-growing regions were occupied by Union troops, and planters continued to try to raise cotton crops. Southern women were forced to revive home production of goods in short supply, but even that was hard to do as Union invasions turned women and children into refugees. As the war went on, dissent became a problem on both sides. In the North Peace Democrats, known as Copperheads, contributed to the volatile brew of political, ethnic, racial, and class antagonism that erupted into antidraft protests in several cities. Nevertheless, freedom of