While the armies were still fighting across the North and South, problems continued on the home front for both. For Lincoln, Clement Vallandigham and the “Copperheads” along with draft rioting, meant serious problems for keeping the Union together under republican control (Blackboard, 2016). Vallandigham was a Democrat from Ohio and leader of the Copperheads whose view of the war, was a wicked failure; the Emancipation Proclamation should be repudiated; conscription and the suspension of habeas corpus were unconstitutional along with many more (McPherson & Hogue, 2010). With his arrest for treason caused an uproar with Democratic politicians urging the removal of the Emancipation Proclamation, the draft and possibly a counterrevolution in the North. Copperhead newspapers openly encouraged desertion from the army and many Union fighters from Illinois did and those that didn’tbecame so insubordinate that Grant disbanded the regiment. The draft rioting was due to the act that made all single men aged twenty to forty-five and married men up to thirty-five subject to a draft lottery. In addition, the act allowed drafted men to avoid conscription entirely by supplying someone to take their place or to pay the government a three hundred-dollar exemption fee. Not surprisingly, only the wealthy could afford to buy their way out of the draft (“VNY: Draft riots day 1,” n.d.).
In the South, Jefferson Davis had his own problems concerning criticism he received over how he was handling the war. Now he was left questioning just how far should the idea of “states’ rights” control how the Southern Confederacy fought the war (Blackboard, 2016). But the blame could not be put just on him alone for the Confederate defeat. The South was having issues with their Congress who had few positive contribution to the war effort. By 1863, the reputation of Congress had sunk to a low point from which it never recovered (McPherson &Hogue, 2010). The economic issues was the shortage of food and manufactured goods that left many families struggling to survive. In towns of battle fields in Tennessee, residents had to contend with hungry Soldiers taking what they wanted from their fields and farms.
I believe the North faced the greatest problems. For the past two years to Union had been gaining ground on the Confederacy and with the issues they were having could possibly end the support for the war. Support is the driving force, the Army or government could not do it alone. Unlike the North, the Southern citizens still supported the Soldiers who were fighting.
