The Confederacy now without banks and without gold it did the one thing it could, printed excess amounts of money. Due to the Confederate Constitution the Confederacy, which forbade the central government to impose taxes on states, they were not able to collect taxes to support the large printing at hand, the Confederacy was nearly broke. Since the majority of men in the South were fighting in the war the southern agricultural land was losing value and crops rapidly. This decline in crops caused the South to not be able to feed their civilization and military population. Throughout the war food was scarce and towards the end of the war many parts of the South suffered from starvation. The South also lacked arms and ammunition forcing men to bring their own guns, soldiers even searched the battlefields to find Union 's weapons, ammunition, and basic necessities like shoes. The search for shoes actually brought both the North and the South together at the town of Gettysburg which housed a shoe …show more content…
At the time of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln was the president of the united states, after seven states had seceded Abraham Lincoln decided it was his job to preserve the union. During his first inaugural address Lincoln declared, “Shall it be peace, or the sword?"(civilwar.org) During his presidency Abraham Lincoln was also the commander-in-chief of the union army which is the highest ranking military officer. Lincoln always sought for a general who would put fighting first, no matter their politics, he found his perfect general in Ulysses S. Grant. Grant 's first command was as the colonel of the 21st Illinois Infantry, but he was quickly promoted to brigadier general in July 1861, and in September was given command of the District of Southeast Missouri.(civilwar.org) As a soldier, Grant believed, “When in doubt, fight.” Grant was afraid of no one, not even Robert E. Lee his rival.
Jefferson Finis Davis, the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, was a planter, politician and soldier. As president Davis acted as his own Secretary of War, he held less lower in the South than Lincoln did in the North. The minimal power he did have decreased as parts of the Confederate Army was captured by the Union. Davis 's economic policies failed to provide the South with a stable currency or enough industrial capacity to prevail in the war.