Political Effects of The Civil War

The Civil War had a profound influence on every aspect of American life. From the physical destruction and human casualties, influence on society and culture, to the effects of a nation divided against itself while attempting to govern itself. As the Union tried to keep the country together and the Confederacy established itself as an independent nation, each entity began to experience intended and unintended changes in government policy and political views. What are the political effects of the Civil War? What was the impact on the South? The North? And what were the lasting political consequences of the Civil War?

What are the political effects of the Civil War?

When looking at the influence of the Civil War on politics, you first have to look at how the war affected the North and the South, as each held very different views on the role of government before the outbreak of the war.

Immediate Political Effects of the Civil War on the North

As long as the war lasted, the Union government's and the president's powers continued to grow and change. Abraham Lincoln found that war required active presidential leadership, often taking executive action without approval from Congress. At the beginning of the war, Lincoln launched a major ship-building program without waiting for Congress to assemble. The lawmakers later approved his decision, reinforcing Lincoln’s belief, and he continued to act in advance of Congress when he deemed it necessary.

Fig. 1 - Abraham Lincoln used the war to grow the federal government's power, specifically, the use and authorization of executive actions

What Lincoln’s actions exemplify are the effects of the Civil War on the north, whose most significant impact was on the balance of power between the branches of government. On occasion, Lincoln used his wartime authority to bolster his political power. He and his generals proved adept in arranging furloughs for soldiers who could vote in close elections. In another instance, when the Republican governor of Indiana found himself short of funds because of Democratic opposition, Lincoln generously supplied eight times the amount of money the governor needed.

Among the clearest examples of the wartime expansion of federal power were the National Banking Acts of 1863, 1864, and 1865.

Congress established a national banking system empowered to issue the maximum number of national bank notes. At the close of the war in 1865, Congress laid a punitive tax on state bank notes and forced most major institutions to join the system. This process led to a sounder currency and a more straightforward monetary system.

Immediate Political Effects of the Civil War on the South

Even more than the fighting itself, the war altered southern society beyond all expectations and with astonishing speed. One of the first institutions that changed was the politics and government of the South.

The South had been the area of little government. State’s rights had been its motto, but even the state governments were weak by modern standards. To withstand the massive power of the North, however, the South had to centralize; like the colonial revolutionaries, southerners faced a choice of “join or die.” No one saw the necessity of centralization more clearly than Jefferson Davis- the Confederacy president.

Fig. 2 - A portrait of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, who worked to create a strong central government with authority over much of the south

From the outset, Davis pressed to bring all arms, supplies, and troops under his control. He advocated conscription when states failed to enroll enough new soldiers. And he took a decisive leadership role in the Confederate Congress, which raised taxes and later passed tariffs on wheat, corn, oats, rye, cotton, peas, and other farm products.

Almost three thousand agents dispersed to collect the tax, assisted by nearly fifteen hundred appraisers. Where opposition arose, the government suspended the writ of habeas corpus and imposed martial law. In the face of a political opposition that cherished state’s rights, Davis was unyielding.

Fig. 3- A political propaganda piece published in the Confederacy in 1860, echoing the motto of the American Revolutionaries, "Join or Die," in a rallying cry for unity between the southern states

Soon the Richmond administration was taking virtually complete control of the southern economy. Because it controlled the supply of labor through conscription, the administration could regulate industry, compelling factories to work on government contracts to supply government needs.

In addition, the Confederate Congress passed laws giving the central government almost complete control of the railroads; later, shipping came under extensive regulation. New statutes limited corporate profits and dividends. A large bureaucracy sprang up to administer these operations: over seventy thousand civilians were needed to run the Confederate government. By the war’s end, the southern bureaucracy was proportionally more extensive than its counterpart in the north.

Long-term political effects of the Civil War

First and foremost, the Civil War, and the Union victory, ensured that the United States was a single political entity, not a collection of individually sovereign states. As southern states rejoined the Union, they had to affirm that the states did not hold the right to secede from the Union.

The most significant long-term political effects of the Civil War were the significant Constitutional changes and the changes in the federal government.

Through Reconstruction, three amendments were ratified to the U.S. Constitution. The 13th Amendment abolishes slavery, the 14th Amendment protects and defines citizenship and the rights of citizens, and the 15th Amendment protects voting rights.

The federal government, through Reconstruction and the use of centralized power, consolidated during the years of the war, emerged with greater national power over the states and citizens. During the decades following the Civil War, the battle to rebalance the power of government between the Executive and Legislative branches will define American politics for a generation. And the government itself would begin to exercise its new influence and power, not only through the policies of Reconstruction but also through more active and progressive measures that would have been almost unimaginable before the Civil War.