His victory was attributable to the larger

His victory was attributable to the larger populations in the North .
After Lincoln’s victory, the South could see the writing on the wall. They knew that America’s political
future regarding the issue of slavery was on its last legs. Therefore, they went ahead and seceded from
the Union.
The first to secede was South Carolina in December of 1860. Within six weeks , Florida , Alabama,
Georgia , Texas, Mississipp i, and Louisiana seceded, too.
The secessionists states called themselves The Confederate States of America . They wrote a
Constitution that was similar to the United States Constitution, but it had a strict limit on federal power
and the enshrinement of slavery as a perpetual institution .
The Civil War
Once the shooting started at Fort Sumpter, a few other states joined the Confederacy as well. They were
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas .
However, it is important for you to know that some states that allowed slavery did not secede the Union.
Those states were Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri . These states are known as border
states .
It is important to know these states because it’ll better help you understand the strategies used during
the Civil War.
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Lincoln’s sole objective during the Civil War was to save the Union . That’s why it took him about a year
and a half to make a proclamation to free the Enslaved.
Had he made a proclamation earlier, he felt he would have alienated the slave border states and he felt
that those states were vital for a Union’s victory.
The Civil War, at least in the beginning, wasn’t entirely about slavery .
The South’s Advantages The North’s Advantages
▪ Fighting a defensive war
▪ Better generals (Robert E. Lee &
Stonewall Jackson)
▪ Larger Population (4 times as many
people in the North as in the South)
▪ Robust Navy (This would allow them to
control the seas and rivers)
▪ Economic (most of the nation’s banks,
about 70% of the nation’s railroads, and
most of the nation’s manufacturing)
▪ Well established central government
The Union’s (The North) Strategy
A main plank of the Union’s strategy was the use of the U.S. Navy to set up a blockade of southern
seaports and eventually gain control of the Mississippi River . This would cut the Confederacy (the
South) in half. This plan was called the Anaconda Plan .
The Confederacy’s (The South) Strategy
The Confederacy’s plan mostly relied on help from foreign countries namely Britain and France . Britain
and France’s motivation for helping the Confederacy was because of their reliance on southern cotton to
help their textile mills run.
The south was convinced that King Cotton would convince the European nations, Britain and France to
send aid, but what they didn’t count on was those countries getting the cotton from India and Egypt .