Why was the union more politically cohesive than the confederacy?

Question

a) There was little political dissent in the north, b/c the northerners were united in a crusade against slavery.
b) the multiplicity of political parties in the souhth made confederate party politics vicious and divisive.
c) the presence of vocal and politically powerful opposition in the northe forced the republicans to unite behind their leader
d) Jefferson Davis encouraged dissent as a way of sharpening confederate resolve.
e) the south had no tradition of vigorous politics or strong political leadership.

Answer 1

The biggest reason for the North of being more politcally cohesive than the South was that they already had a working government in place.

With that having been said, it was not all that strong in the North. This can be seen by many of the border states providing troops for both sides. There was much subversive activities in all the states and within the union government too.
Also, there was a good bit of apathy by many concerning the withdrawal of the southern states.

Just for the information, Delaware was the last state to free its slaves (a northern state)

Answer 2

While your answer may contain parts of all of the arguments you point out, The South's withering representation over the 1st 50 years of the 19th century, did not help. The Confederacy was nothing more than 11 rebellious states with a disdain toward a strong central government. After all, that is why they seceded in the first place. Without the strength to pull them together, President Davis was in a tough spot to get all the southern states to pull together.

Answer 3

The South was a confederation of states not required to answer to the central government. The North had a centralized Government even though there was a tremdndous amount of dissent, even riots.

States Right's was one of the major issues of the war and I guess the outcome answered which was best.

Answer 4

There was plenty of dissent in the north, look at the anti-draft riots in New York in July 1863.

Plenty of northern Democrats were in Congress and the Senate during the Civil War and were no great friends of Lincoln. Do you know of any Republican politician's in the Confederacy? The best you could do there was a "Union Loyalist Democrat".

Answer 5

given those answers to pick from, I would have to pick e) the south was predominately a collection of large land owners who basically had their own little "kingdoms" to lord over. The plantation owners were very rich and therefore "above the law". (kind of like Bush & Cheney now)

The north was made up of small family farms and cities. Both of these are easily governed.

Personally, I think the answer to the question is one of money and resourses. The north simply wore down the south because the north had the manpower and the manufacturing capablilites. It is hard to be politically cohesive when your soldiers are starving and poorly supplied in the field.

Answer 6

From among these choices I'd say it has to be "c". Though in fact it seems to me that the real answer is that the Confederacy was after all formed by people who objected to a strong central government.

Answer 7

I don't know who came up with these alternatives; but trust me, they're all wrong.

The answer is "F" -- None of the above.

I'm not joking. Those answers are rubbish.