Civil War - On the Home Front

Life Behind the Lines
In the south, the Confederacy had to build a government from scratch which resulted in some problems. One of which was the problem of currency. The South had very little gold or silver, so when paper money was printed, it was virtually worthless. Prices sky-rocketed to ridiculous heights and "by the end of 1864, Confederate money was worth one-fortieth of it face value."

With Union ships in a blockade off the coast, the South was reluctant to trade goods to other nations. The South even thought that as time went by, Britain would realize how much they needed Southern Cotton for their textile mills. It turns out though, the plan backfired and the South lost money which could have been made by attempting a trade.

Britain chose to honor the blockade, which meant averting war with either side of the Civil War. Some blockade runners on the other hand, chose to risk their lives by slipping through the Union blockade and making large profits by selling items to the needy South.

Government in Time of War
When the Civil War started, both sides needed soldiers to fill up the ranks. At first, there were many volunteers who supplied an adequate number for both sides. But as time went on, men became less willing to serve, so both the Confederate government and the Union government issued a draft.
Resistance to the draft was strong in some places, although moreso in the North. The most prime example of this resistance was in the New York draft riot in July 1863. During this riot, a mob attacked government officials and even attacked the city's black population. "By the time it was over, 199 people had died and 306 had been injured."

Another important factor in the war was the border states. Four states (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware) did not secede from the Union when the war broke out. Missouri and Delaware remained in the Union, and Kentucky, after being neutral, eventually joined the Union cause.
Maryland however "was a special case." The state was evenly divided between a seccesionist and pro-Union population. Since Whasington D.C. was in Maryland, Lincoln orderd the military to occupy the state and maintain control.
Another interesting case is the formation of West Virginia. When Virginia seceded from the Union, a large group of citizens in the western portion of the state refused to follow. With the federal government's consent, a new state was formed, named West Virginia.

During the time of war, Lincoln chose to suspend the "writs of habeas corpus, meaning that the government could arrest a person without charging him with a crime or bringing him to trial." Some critics opposed Lincoln's move, but he maintained the power.

There were also some people called Copperheads, who were "Southern sympathizers in the North."

Diplomatic Maneuvers
"The main goal of Southern diplomacy was to persuade a European power-preferably Great Britain-to recognize the independence of the Confederacy." Great Britain prefered to stay out of what they considered a purely internal American matter, but one event almost sparked them to join the Confederate cause.
In Novemeber 1861 "the confederate government had commisioned two agents, John Slidell and James Mason, to go to Europe to negotiate for aid. They were sailing on a British mail ship, the Trent, when Captain Charles Wilkes of the United States Navy forced the British ship to surrender the agents."
The Trent affair outraged British officials, and they demanded an apology from the US government and the release of Mason and Slidell. Britain got what they wanted, and as a result, peace was maintained on both sides.

In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that "all slaves in rebel-controlled territory would be freed, but this excluded slaves in the Union's border states and in Confederate territories already under Union control."
Lincoln wanted to achieve 3 things with the Emancipation Proclamation:
1) "To keep Britain from recognizing the South by appealing to the strong british antislavery feeling."
2) "To encourage blacks to join the war effort and fight for the Union"
3) "To revive flagging sprits in the North by giving Northerners another reason for fighting the war in addition to preserving the Union."