Hamiltonian Federalism and Union Resourcing of the Civil War

Abstract

By 1860, the stage was set for one of the most calamitous events in American history: the Civil War. The political impetus for the conflict was the issue of slavery, but there were other causes as well. Differing economic models and tariff policy had likewise caused a rift between north and south that could not be bridged. As the two sides drifted further apart economically, Southern leaders began to believe that their future lay in secession and eventually independence from the Union and were willing to fight for it. Unlike their colonial ancestors however, this time their enemy would be their own countrymen, led by a president who refused to countenance such a move and was willing to counter the South blow for blow. In this chapter, Meagher chronicles how the Union held together but just barely .