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I would like to thank Dr. Christopher Payne for reading and commenting on an earlier version of this article. I would also like to thank Professor Donald Critchlow and the other participants at the symposium "Is Political Liberty Necessary for Economic Prosperity?" Arizona State University, November 7-8, 2014, for their ideas and support.
During the Civil War, the presidents of the opposing sides, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, often spoke of realizing their visions of political liberty and economic prosperity. At the outset of war, they set out contrasting positions, which were based on different definitions of liberty: Lincoln regarded liberty as safeguarding the individual's freedom from restraint; Davis's in preserving those rights, including ownership of property, defined in relation to the state. Lincoln's individual would then achieve prosperity through upward mobility; for Davis, the best guarantor of prosperity was expansion and free trade. When confronted by the bewildering conditions of war, both attempted to remain true to their beliefs; but Lincoln and Davis adjusted the relative priorities of prosperity and liberty, as they had to justify measures necessary for the prosecution of the war. To capture change over time, this article is organized chronologically, setting out the initial stances of each president coming into office in early 1861 and then tackling each main phase of the war down to Davis's flight and Lincoln's assassination in April 1865. Over the course of the war, Davis sacrificed both liberty and prosperity for the present, as these priorities interfered with fighting a defensive war for existence. Meanwhile Lincoln, whose armies had to conquer the Confederacy, had to offer something to the people in terms of liberty and prosperity now. Both Lincoln and Davis had to convincingly demonstrate that whatever happened in the present, it was in the service of a future of liberty and prosperity.1
OPENING POSITIONS: EARLY 1861
Lincoln's definition of liberty as no obstacles in the way of a successful career was shaped by his own experience; therefore the freedom to rise, what politicians would call today equality of opportunity, provided the basis of prosperity. Such a system required a steady stream of migrants to America with nothing, together with sufficient support provided by government development projects, funded by a tariff, to ensure...