The Civil War, lasting for four years, tested the strength of both North and South, in leadership, in finance, in diplomatic skill, in material resources, in industry, and in armed forces.  By the blockade of Southern ports, by an overwhelming weight of men and materials, and by relentless hammering on the field of battle, the North was victorious.

The results of the war were revolutionary in character.  Slavery was abolished and the freedmen given the ballot.  The Southern planters who had been the leaders of their section were ruined financially and almost to a man excluded from taking part in political affairs.  The union was declared to be perpetual and the right of a state to secede settled by the judgment of battle.  Federal control over the affairs of states, counties, and cities was established by the fourteenth amendment.  The power and prestige of the federal government were enhanced beyond imagination.  The North was now free to pursue its economic policies:  a protective tariff, a national banking system, land grants for railways, free lands for farmers.  Planting had dominated the country for nearly a generation.  Business enterprise was to take its place.

=References=

NORTHERN ACCOUNTS

J.K.  Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms and The Outcome of the Civil War (American Nation Series).

J. Ropes, History of the Civil War (best account of military campaigns).

J.F.  Rhodes, History of the United States, Vols.  III, IV, and V.

J.T.  Morse, Abraham Lincoln (2 vols.).

SOUTHERN ACCOUNTS

W.E.  Dodd, Jefferson Davis.

Jefferson Davis, Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.

E. Pollard, The Lost Cause.

A.H.  Stephens, The War between the States.

=Questions=

1.  Contrast the reception of secession in 1860 with that given to nullification in 1832.

2.  Compare the Northern and Southern views of the union.

3.  What were the peculiar features of the Confederate constitution?

4.  How was the Confederacy financed?

5.  Compare the resources of the two sections.

6.  On what foundations did Southern hopes rest?

7.  Describe the attempts at a peaceful settlement.

8.  Compare the raising of armies for the Civil War with the methods employed in the World War. (See below, chapter XXV.)

9.  Compare the financial methods of the government in the two wars.

10.  Explain why the blockade was such a deadly weapon.

11.  Give the leading diplomatic events of the war.

12.  Trace the growth of anti-slavery sentiment.

13.  What measures were taken to restrain criticism of the government?

14.  What part did Lincoln play in all phases of the war?