Civil War Social Effects

In the lead up to the Civil War tensions between the North and the South had risen to extreme levels. This was due to the constant arguments about states rights versus the powers of the federal government, a big factor being slavery. Although, not starting out as a war for freedom, with Abraham Lincoln's election the South felt as though it was an attack on their society as a whole. Four months later a majority of the southern states seceded from the Union creating the Confederacy. However, the Union which was largely industrial had four times as many men as the Confederates supplies by their own materials being able to transport them faster due to the developed railroads. On the other hand, the Confederacy had a skilled general at the head of their army, being Robert E. Lee a Virginian that was offered command of the Union army as well but
The struggling Union needed to figure out a way in order to dissuade the European countries from aiding the Confederacy and their chance was given to them after the Battle of Antietam. There Lincoln gave his issues his famous Emancipation Proclamation which although had no immediate effect made the illusion that the Union was fighting for the freedom of slaves. This rendered the assistance of European countries impossible since they had just emancipated their own slaves and supporting the Confederacy would be supporting slavery. Furthermore, as the war progressed the industrial production of the Union would boom due to the demands for more goods. Correspondingly, the number of men was decreasing drastically leaving the women in charge of the positions that were commonly held by men which was similar in both Union and Confederacy. Additionally, slaves were considered free if they joined the Union army, and many enlisted in order to fight back against the evil institution of slavery countless dying from the