vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
American Civil War
Historically , southern slave - holding states , because of their low - cost manual labor , had little perceived need for mechanization and supported having the right to sell cotton and purchase manufactured goods from any nation . Northern states , which had heavily invested in their still - nascent manufacturing , could not compete with the full - fledged industries of Europe in offering high prices for cotton imported from the South and low prices for manufactured exports in return . Thus , northern manufacturing interests supported tariffs and protectionism while southern planters demanded free trade .
American Civil War
There were numerous technological innovations during the Civil War that had a great impact on 19th century science . The Civil War was one of the earliest examples of an `` industrial war '' , in which technological might is used to achieve military supremacy in a war . New inventions , such as the train and telegraph , delivered soldiers , supplies and messages at a time when horses were considered to be the fastest way to travel . It was also in this war when countries first used aerial warfare , in the form of reconnaissance balloons , to a significant effect . It saw the first action involving steam - powered ironclad warships in naval warfare history . Repeating firearms such as the Henry rifle , Spencer rifle , Colt revolving rifle , Triplett & Scott carbine and others , first appeared during the Civil War ; they were a revolutionary invention that would soon replace muzzle - loading and single - shot firearms in warfare , as well as the first appearances of rapid - firing weapons and machine guns such as the Agar gun and the Gatling gun .
American Civil War
Also important were Lincoln 's eloquence in rationalizing the national purpose and his skill in keeping the border states committed to the Union cause . The Emancipation Proclamation was an effective use of the President 's war powers . The Confederate government failed in its attempt to get Europe involved in the war militarily , particularly Britain and France . Southern leaders needed to get European powers to help break up the blockade the Union had created around the Southern ports and cities . Lincoln 's naval blockade was 95 percent effective at stopping trade goods ; as a result , imports and exports to the South declined significantly . The abundance of European cotton and Britain 's hostility to the institution of slavery , along with Lincoln 's Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico naval blockades , severely decreased any chance that either Britain or France would enter the war .
Conclusion of the American Civil War
Unaware of Lee 's surrender on April 9 and the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14 , General James H. Wilson 's Raiders continued their march through Alabama into Georgia . On April 16 , the Battle of Columbus , Georgia was fought . This battle -- erroneously -- has been argued to be the `` last battle of the Civil War '' and equally erroneously asserted to be `` widely regarded '' as such . Columbus fell to Wilson 's Raiders about midnight on April 16 , and most of its manufacturing capacity was destroyed on the 17th . Confederate Colonel John Stith Pemberton , the inventor of Coca - Cola , was wounded in this battle which resulted in his obsession with pain - killing formulas , ultimately ending in the recipe for his celebrated drink .
Foreign trade of the United States
During the Civil War period , leaders of the Confederacy were confident that Britain would come to their aid because of British reliance on Southern cotton . The Union was able to avoid this , through skillful use of diplomacy and threats to other aspects of European - U.S. trade relations .
United Kingdom and the American Civil War
Lincoln 's Emancipation Proclamation , announced in preliminary form in September 1862 , made ending slavery an objective of the war and caused European intervention on the side of the South to be unpopular . However , some British leaders expected it would cause a large scale race war that might need foreign intervention . Pro-Southern leaders in Britain then spoke of mediation , which they understood to mean the independence of the Confederacy and the continuation of slavery .
Trent Affair
The Confederacy and its president , Jefferson Davis , believed from the beginning that European dependence on cotton for its textile industry would lead to diplomatic recognition and intervention , in the form of mediation . Historian Charles Hubbard wrote :
Confederate States of America
The Confederate government initially wanted to finance its war mostly through tariffs on imports , export taxes , and voluntary donations of gold . After the spontaneous imposition of an embargo on cotton sales to Europe in 1861 , these sources of revenue dried up and the Confederacy increasingly turned to issuing debt and printing money to pay for war expenses . The Confederate States politicians were worried about angering the general population with hard taxes . A tax increase might disillusion many Southerners , so the Confederacy resorted to printing more money . As a result , inflation increased and remained a problem for the southern states throughout the rest of the war . By April 1863 , for example , the cost of flour in Richmond had risen to $100 a barrel and housewives were rioting .
Confederate States of America
By mid-1861 , the Union naval blockade virtually shut down the export of cotton and the import of manufactured goods . Food that formerly came overland was cut off .
Presidency of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln 's foreign policy was deficient in 1861 in terms of appealing to European public opinion . The European aristocracy ( the dominant factor in every major country ) was `` absolutely gleeful in pronouncing the American debacle as proof that the entire experiment in popular government had failed . '' Diplomats had to explain that United States was not committed to the ending of slavery , and instead they repeated legalistic arguments about the unconstitutionality of secession . Confederate spokesman , on the other hand , were much more successful by ignoring slavery and instead focusing on their struggle for liberty , their commitment to free trade , and the essential role of cotton in the European economy . However , the Confederacy 's hope that cotton exports would compel European interference did not come to fruition , as Britain found alternative sources of cotton and experienced economic growth in industries that did not rely on cotton . Though the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately end the possibility of European intervention , it rallied European public opinion to the Union by adding abolition as a Northern war goal . Any chance of a European intervention in the war ended with the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg , as European leaders came to believe that the Confederate cause was doomed .
American Civil War
By early 1861 , General Winfield Scott had devised the Anaconda Plan to win the war with as little bloodshed as possible . Scott argued that a Union blockade of the main ports would weaken the Confederate economy . Lincoln adopted parts of the plan , but he overruled Scott 's caution about 90 - day volunteers . Public opinion , however , demanded an immediate attack by the army to capture Richmond .
American Civil War
The Civil War occurred during the early stages of the industrial revolution and subsequently many naval innovations emerged during this time , most notably the advent of the ironclad warship . It began when the Confederacy , knowing they had to meet or match the Union 's naval superiority , responded to the Union blockade by building or converting more than 130 vessels , including twenty - six ironclads and floating batteries . Only half of these saw active service . Many were equipped with ram bows , creating `` ram fever '' among Union squadrons wherever they threatened . But in the face of overwhelming Union superiority and the Union 's own ironclad warships , they were unsuccessful .
United Kingdom and the American Civil War
Hubbard added that Davis 's policy was stubborn and coercive . The King Cotton strategy was resisted by the Europeans . Secretary of War Judah Benjamin and Secretary of the Treasury Christopher Memminger warned that cotton should be immediately exported to build up foreign credits .
American Civil War
In the 1860 presidential election , Republicans , led by Abraham Lincoln , supported banning slavery in all the U.S. territories . The Southern states viewed this as a violation of their constitutional rights and as the first step in a grander Republican plan to eventually abolish slavery . The three pro-Union candidates together received an overwhelming 82 % majority of the votes cast nationally : Republican Lincoln 's votes centered in the north , Democrat Stephen A. Douglas ' votes were distributed nationally and Constitutional Unionist John Bell 's votes centered in Tennessee , Kentucky , and Virginia . The Republican Party , dominant in the North , secured a plurality of the popular votes and a majority of the electoral votes nationally , so Lincoln was constitutionally elected president . He was the first Republican Party candidate to win the presidency . However , before his inauguration , seven slave states with cotton - based economies declared secession and formed the Confederacy . The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations , a total of 49 percent . The first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51 % and Louisiana with 55 % . Alabama had voted 46 % for those unionists , Mississippi with 40 % , Florida with 38 % , Texas with 25 % , and South Carolina cast Electoral College votes without a popular vote for president . Of these , only Texas held a referendum on secession .
American Civil War
Though the Confederacy hoped that Britain and France would join them against the Union , this was never likely , and so they instead tried to bring Britain and France in as mediators . The Union , under Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward worked to block this , and threatened war if any country officially recognized the existence of the Confederate States of America . In 1861 , Southerners voluntarily embargoed cotton shipments , hoping to start an economic depression in Europe that would force Britain to enter the war to get cotton , but this did not work . Worse , Europe developed other cotton suppliers , which they found superior , hindering the South 's recovery after the war . Crewmembers
United States presidential election, 1860
The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was an immediate cause of secession of the first 7 Southern states ( SC , MS , FL , AL , GA , LA , TX ) , which formed the Confederacy in February 1861 . The statehood of Kansas as a free state and Lincoln 's military resistance to the Confederacy led to secession of 4 more states ( VA , NC , TN , AR ) after May 1861 . Lincoln had been the nominee of the Republican party with an anti-slavery expansion platform , he refused to acknowledge the right to secession , and he would not yield federal property within Southern states . Numerous historians have explored the reasons so many white Southerners adopted secessionism in 1860 , after 30 years of disputes between North and South states over protection tariffs , Federal spending , and civil rights of refusing to allow slaves to travel with slaveholder families in some North States . Tariffs had been levied on South imports to protect North industries , taxes were charged on South cotton but not North wool , or 3 - to - 1 Federal expenditures on North navigation lighthouses versus the South 's longer coastline , and a faked slave uprising in Virginia angered many Southerners . Bertram Wyatt - Brown argues that secessionists desired independence as necessary for their honor . They could no longer tolerate Northern state attitudes that regarded slave ownership as a great sin and Northern politicians who insisted on stopping the spread of slavery . Avery Craven argues that secessionists believed Lincoln 's election meant long - term doom for their vast social system , of thousands of Southerners working with over two million slaves living in private households as nearly half the population of many Southern states in 1860 . This situation could not be solved by the democratic process , and it placed `` the great masses of men , North and South , helpless before the drift into war '' .
France–United Kingdom relations
During the American Civil War both nations remained neutral . France came close to entering on the side of the Confederate States of America . The cutoff of cotton shipments caused economic depression in the textile industry , resulting in widespread unemployment and suffering among workers , and support for an intervention that would reopen the trade . In the end Britain refused to go to war and France followed suit .
American Civil War
Historians have debated whether economic differences between the industrial Northeast and the agricultural South helped cause the war . Most historians now disagree with the economic determinism of historian Charles A. Beard in the 1920s and emphasize that Northern and Southern economies were largely complementary . While socially different , the sections economically benefited each other . New
Secession in the United States
See main articles Origins of the American Civil War , Confederate States of America and American Civil War .
American Civil War
Events leading to the American Civil War Slavery Northwest Ordinance Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions Battle of Negro Fort Missouri Compromise Tariff of 1828 Nat Turner 's slave rebellion Nullification Crisis The Amistad Prigg v. Pennsylvania Texas annexation Mexican -- American War Wilmot Proviso Manifest destiny Underground Railroad Nashville Convention Compromise of 1850 Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 Uncle Tom 's Cabin Kansas -- Nebraska Act Ostend Manifesto Bleeding Kansas Caning of Charles Sumner Dred Scott v. Sandford The Impending Crisis of the South Brown 's raid on Harpers Ferry 1860 presidential election Crittenden Compromise Secession of Southern States Star of the West Corwin Amendment Battle of Fort Sumter
American Civil War
Hostilities began on April 12 , 1861 , when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter . While in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains , in the Eastern Theater , the battle was inconclusive from 1861 -- 1862 . Later , in 1863 , Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation , which made ending slavery a war goal . To the west , by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy , then much of their western armies , and seized New Orleans . The 1863 Union Siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River . In 1863 , Robert E. Lee 's Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg . Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grant 's command of all Union armies in 1864 . Inflicting an ever - tightening naval blockade of Confederate ports , the Union marshaled the resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions , leading to the fall of Atlanta to William T. Sherman and his march to the sea . The last significant battles raged around the Siege of Petersburg. Lee 's escape attempt ended with his surrender at Appomattox Court House , on April 9 , 1865 . While the military war was coming to an end , the political reintegration of the nation was to take another 12 years , known as the Reconstruction Era .
American Civil War
After the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863 , General Kirby Smith in Texas was informed by Jefferson Davis that he could expect no further help from east of the Mississippi River . Although he lacked resources to beat Union armies , he built up a formidable arsenal at Tyler , along with his own Kirby Smithdom economy , a virtual `` independent fiefdom '' in Texas , including railroad construction and international smuggling . The Union in turn did not directly engage him . Its 1864 Red River Campaign to take Shreveport , Louisiana was a failure and Texas remained in Confederate hands throughout the war .
History of United States foreign policy
Elite opinion in Britain tended to favor the Confederacy , while public opinion tended to favor the United States . Large scale trade continued in both directions with the United States , with the Americans shipping grain to Britain while Britain sent manufactured items and munitions . Immigration continued into the United States . British trade with the Confederacy was limited , with a trickle of cotton going to Britain and some munitions slipped in by numerous small blockade runners . The Confederate strategy for securing independence was largely based on the hope of military intervention by Britain and France , but Confederate diplomacy proved inept . With the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862 , it became a war against slavery that most British supported .
United Kingdom and the American Civil War
Outright war between the United States and United Kingdom was a possibility in the fall of 1861 , when a US naval officer , Captain Charles Wilkes , took control of a British mail ship and seized two Confederate diplomats . Confederate President Jefferson Davis had named James M. Mason and John Slidell as commissioners to represent Confederate interests abroad ; Mason was en route to England and Slidell to France . They slipped out of Charleston , South Carolina , on a blockade runner at the beginning of October and went via the British Bahamas to Spanish Havana , where they took passage for England on the British mail steamer Trent .
United Kingdom and the American Civil War
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Empire remained officially neutral throughout the American Civil War ( 1861 -- 1865 ) . It legally recognised the status of Confederate States of America but never recognised it as a nation and neither signed a treaty with it nor exchanged ambassadors . However , top British officials debated intervention in the first 18 months . The elite tended to support the Confederacy , but ordinary people tended to support the United States of America . Large - scale trade continued in both directions , with the Union shipping grain to Britain , and Britain sent manufactured items and munitions . Immigration continued into the US , with Britons volunteering for its army . British trade with the Confederacy fell over 90 % from the prewar period , with a small amount of cotton going to Britain and some munitions slipped in by numerous small blockade runners . They were operated and funded by British private interests , were legal under international law , caused no dispute between the US and the UK .
American Civil War
Lincoln 's foreign policy was deficient in 1861 in terms of appealing to European public opinion . Diplomats had to explain that United States was not committed to the ending of slavery , but instead they repeated legalistic arguments about the unconstitutionality of secession . Confederate spokesmen , on the other hand , were much more successful by ignoring slavery and instead focusing on their struggle for liberty , their commitment to free trade , and the essential role of cotton in the European economy . In addition , the European aristocracy ( the dominant factor in every major country ) was `` absolutely gleeful in pronouncing the American debacle as proof that the entire experiment in popular government had failed . European government leaders welcomed the fragmentation of the ascendant American Republic . ''
United Kingdom and the American Civil War
`` Davis left foreign policy to others in government and , rather than developing an aggressive diplomatic effort , tended to expect events to accomplish diplomatic objectives . The new president was committed to the notion that cotton would secure recognition and legitimacy from the powers of Europe . The men Davis selected as secretary of state and emissaries to Europe were chosen for political and personal reasons -- not for their diplomatic potential . This was due , in part , to the belief that cotton could accomplish the Confederate objectives with little help from Confederate diplomats . ''
Columbus, Georgia
When the Civil War broke out in 1861 , the industries of Columbus expanded their production ; this became one of the most important centers of industry in the Confederacy . During the war , Columbus ranked second to Richmond in the manufacture of supplies for the Confederate army . The Eagle Manufacturing Company made textiles of various sorts but especially woolens for Confederate uniforms . The Columbus Iron Works manufactured cannons and machinery , Greenwood and Gray made firearms , and Louis and Elias Haimon produced swords and bayonets . Smaller firms provided additional munitions and sundries . As the war turned negative , each faced exponentially growing struggled shortages of raw materials and skilled labor , as well as worsenting financial opportunities . In addition to textiles , the city had an ironworks , a sword factory , and a shipyard for the Confederate Navy .
American Civil War
In April 1861 , Lincoln announced the Union blockade of all Southern ports ; commercial ships could not get insurance and regular traffic ended . The South blundered in embargoing cotton exports in 1861 before the blockade was effective ; by the time they realized the mistake , it was too late . `` King Cotton '' was dead , as the South could export less than 10 percent of its cotton . The blockade shut down the ten Confederate seaports with railheads that moved almost all the cotton , especially New Orleans , Mobile , and Charleston . By June 1861 , warships were stationed off the principal Southern ports , and a year later nearly 300 ships were in service . Modern
American Civil War
During the Civil War , sentiment concerning slaves , enslavement and emancipation in the United States was divided . In 1861 , Lincoln worried that premature attempts at emancipation would mean the loss of the border states , and that `` to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game . '' Copperheads and some War Democrats opposed emancipation , although the latter eventually accepted it as part of total war needed to save the Union . Left
History of New York (state)
A war was not in the best interest of business , because New York had strong ties to the Deep South , both through the port of New York and manufacture of cotton goods in upstate textile mills . Half of New York City 's exports were related to cotton before the war . Southern businessmen so frequently traveled to the city that they established favorite hotels and restaurants . Trade was based on moving Southern goods . The city 's large Democrat community feared the impact of Abraham Lincoln 's election in 1860 and the mayor urged secession of New York .
American Civil War
The Democrats in Congress , controlled by Southerners , wrote the tariff laws in the 1830s , 1840s , and 1850s , and kept reducing rates so that the 1857 rates were the lowest since 1816 . The Whigs and Republicans complained because they favored high tariffs to stimulate industrial growth , and Republicans called for an increase in tariffs in the 1860 election . The increases were only enacted in 1861 after Southerners resigned their seats in Congress . The tariff issue was and is sometimes cited -- long after the war -- by Lost Cause historians and neo-Confederate apologists . In 1860 -- 61 none of the groups that proposed compromises to head off secession raised the tariff issue . Pamphleteers North and South rarely mentioned the tariff , and when some did , for instance , Matthew Fontaine Maury and John Lothrop Motley , they were generally writing for a foreign audience .