Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the Union
To what extent did Lincoln’s economic, military, and political policies from 1861 to 1865 contribute to the preservation of the Union? Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860. As a president of the United States, Lincoln’s goal was to keep the Union together. The problem of slavery and the secession by the South are mainly the two issues that lead to the dissolve of the Union, in which Lincoln put all his efforts to deal with during his presidency. “He believes this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. He does not expect the Union to be dissolved; He does not expect the house to fall; but he does expect it will cease to be divided.” Lincoln claimed that it is
Second, Lincoln plan to gain control of the Mississippi River, this “allowed north to penetrate deep into the south, and prevent the Confederacy from using the waterway to resupply its forces” (Boyer 375). To take over the control of the Mississippi River, North needed to control the largest city in the south which is New Orleans. “New Orleans is a central port for supplying troops along and west of the river, capturing New Orleans would allow the Union to cut off supplies to western confederate forces and to move troops up the Mississippi River” (Boyer 383). Third, Lincoln used the Anaconda Plan to institute a naval blockade of the south to slowly squeeze the life out of the South like anaconda snake. This hurts the south economy by stopping the south from trading with foreign countries. This three part strategy helped weaken the forces of the Confederacy and further the process to win the war. Lincoln’s another military strategy was to trap the Confederacy army force inside Vicksburg until they are died by starving. In this way, they can force the Confederate to surrender without wasting any manpower and using any violence. In addition, Lincoln used “the war of attrition” to continue to fight until the South ran out of men, supplies, and the will to fight (Boyer 392). Also, Lincoln used the strategy called the “total war” to strike at the Confederate