Balance of Forces

At the beginning of the Civil War, the goal of the North was simply to restore the Union. In his first inaugural address (March 4, 1861), President Abraham Lincoln made it very clear that he had no intention of interfering with slavery where it already existed. This point was reiterated in resolutions adopted by Congress in July that stated the war was not waged against “the established institutions” of the southern states. As the conflict dragged on, however, the president realized that the slavery issue could not be avoided—for political, military, and moral reasons. By 1863, the purpose of the war had broadened into a crusade against slavery. Southern leaders fought the war under the dual banners of states' rights and preserving their way of life. Although the overwhelming majority of southerners did not own slaves, support for slavery was widespread, and southerners were deeply concerned about what would happen if it was abolished. The fact that almost all the fighting took place in the South meant that southerners defended their homes against an invading army throughout the Civil War.

The North had clear advantages over the South at the start of the war. While the South's population was just nine million (more than three million of which were slaves), more than twenty‐two million people lived in the northern and border states. The North had the resources and manpower to equip and put many more men in the field than the South and was comparatively an industrial powerhouse, far outstripping the Confederacy in available raw materials, factory production, and railroads. Despite these strengths, the North did face problems, and the South was not as weak as it initially appeared.

