Chapter XVII

The Confederacy

Because of the telegraph system, a few days after the election of 1860, all of America knew that Lincoln had won. Many people in the South were very unhappy. There were no factories in the South. The people of the South bought most of their goods from England. They liked British goods because they were cheap and the quality was higher than that of American goods. They knew that Abraham Lincoln was nicknamed "Honest Abe" because he was a politician who kept his promises. They knew that he had promised the factory owners of Pennsylvania that he would put a high tariff on British goods. British goods would become much more expensive. Many people in the South were planning to move to the territories and to take their slaves with them. Other young men did not yet own slaves, but they were hoping to own them in the future. But Abraham Lincoln had promised that he would not allow people to bring slaves into the territories.

Many people in the South began to say that they did not want to be part of the United States any more. They called a conference to take place in Montgomery, Alabama, in February of 1861. Delegates came to this conference from most of the Southern states. At this conference, they decided to leave the United States and to form a new country called the Confederacy.

They chose Montgomery, Alabama, to be the first capital of the new country. They chose Jefferson Davis as their president. Their flag had diagonal crossed bars. They began printing their own money. They formed their own army.

At that time, the United States had a volunteer army. Southern young men had a tradition of joining the army. Northern young men did not have a tradition of serving in the army. So, when the Confederacy formed its own army, 90% of the officers and men in the United States army left to join the Confederate army. Almost all of the best trained officers left to join the Confederate army. Buchanan, who was still president, did not do anything. He allowed the United States army to melt away.

Although the elections were at the beginning of November, Lincoln would not take office until the middle of March. During this four and a half-month period, Buchanan just sat in the White House and did nothing. When Lincoln came to Washington DC in the middle of March to become president, the Confederacy was strong. The Confederate army was nine times as large as the United States army. Lincoln had very few officers in his army. Almost all of the trained officers left and joined the Confederate army.

Lincoln did not like the situation. He wanted to keep the United States as a single united country. He thought that if the United States divided into two countries, each of the parts might divide into more countries. If there were many small countries, there might be wars among them. All of them would be weak. If they began to charge import tariffs at the borders, it would slow down their economic development. Lincoln wanted to keep the United States as one country. However, most of the American people did not want a war. He knew that if he began a war to force the states of the Confederacy back into the United States, he would be very unpopular with his own people.

There was an army base on a small island named Fort Sumter. This island was near Charleston, South Carolina. The commanding officer on this island was one of the very few officers who supported the United States. Lincoln sent him a telegram. He told this officer to keep the United States flag flying. Lincoln said he would send ships with supplies to this island. The Confederates told this officer to take down the American flag and to fly the Confederate flag. He refused. So the Confederates began shooting at the American flag.

The people of the North liked the American flag. When they heard that the Confederates were shooting at the American flag, the people of the North became very angry. Lincoln was now able to say that the Confederates had started the war. Lincoln asked the young men to join the Northern army. Many thousands volunteered. Soon Lincoln had a large new army, but the officers and soldiers were untrained.

The South thought it would win the war because most of the army was on its side. The North thought it would win the war because it had the factories where weapons were made. Both sides thought the war would be short. In fact, at first, Lincoln asked young men to volunteer for only three months.