Why Did Joseph E. Brown Win The Civil War?

Unlike many of the Civil War governors who were elected in and out of office while the war was in full swing, Joseph E. Brown served as the governor of Georgia throughout the entire Civil War era, from 1857 to 1865. His influence, thus, is broad, ranging from the conflicts leading up to the war and the secession of the southern states to the defeat of the Confederacy. His voice, which continuously advocated for states’ rights, called first for the secession of the southern states out of the Union and then, in turn, resisted against the Confederacy, opposing the Confederate draft. Brown’s extreme zeal for the principle of states’ rights was undoubtedly the principle over which the Civil War was fought, but in all practicality, he regarded that
The biggest topic of this term was the upcoming presidential election of 1860. Lincoln, a Republican of the north, was seen as the most likely winner of the election. Forecasting undesirable consequences of Lincoln’s triumph in the presidential race, Brown set forth some emergency actions that were clearly a push and preparation for Georgia’s secession. He set a date for a convention on secession on January 2, 1861, and he requested $1,000,000 for military preparation. Furthermore, after Lincoln’s victory in the presidential race but before his inauguration, Brown wrote an open letter to the citizens of Georgia, in which he advocated secession. He laid out the following three points for discussion in his letter: the significance of Lincoln’s election to the White House, the effect his administration would have upon the institution of slavery, and finally the impact the abolishment of slavery would have upon the nonslaveholders and the poor white laborers of Georgia. He explained to Georgians that Lincoln alone was not sufficient cause for succession, but it was what his victory represented that was the main concern. Lincoln was “representative of a fanatical abolitionist sentiment…the principles of which are deadly hostile to the institution of slavery and openly at war with the fundamental doctrines of the Constitution.” Brown argued that Lincoln and his administration would result in “the total abolition of
Brown greatly shared the enthusiasm. When Jefferson Davis was elected President of the Confederacy, Brown even assured him that he would be the last man in Georgia to attempt to create any rift with in the Confederacy. But that changed as the Civil War progressed and Brown got into his third and fourth term as governor. Brown and Davis started clashing on many areas. Those areas ranged from questions of jurisdiction of state or Confederate jurisdiction of troops to the funding of the Confederate army. Davis and his administration argued that the Confederacy required more power if they were to have any chance against the united effort of the northern states, but Brown obstinately maintained that any effort for the Confederacy to gain power that would superimpose over the powers of the states went against the founding belief that the Confederacy was born out