President Lincoln's death warrant

Did President Lincoln sign his death warrant?  In 1864, the North was running out of money and the South was running out of food.  The solution: Cotton for Meat.  No matter who came up with the idea President Lincoln approved the trading of food and supplies for cotton.  You see, Europe wanted cotton.  And there was plenty of cotton in the South, but with the shipping embargo the South couldn’t get enough cotton around Union blockades for needed food for their soldiers.  Lincoln signed the passes for people who said they had cotton so they could officially trade with the North across the battle lines.

Of course, you can guess what happened.  Traders and speculators (much like today) drove the cotton market even higher.  Bankers, men in the government who had inside information, those from the North and South, expected to make fortunes.  The Northern government would also make a percentage from the proceeds thus helping finance the war even further.

Now, you would think that Abraham Lincoln being President could say this is what we’re doing and it would get done without any questions.  But it didn’t work that way.  The President was struggling with reelection in 1864.  He couldn’t be seen trading with the enemy.  For the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, it wouldn’t be right to trade with the enemy.  He would not sign the passes for the cotton traders to cross enemy lines.  The men who had sunk money into the South’s cotton were not capable of getting it to the Northern markets.

Who did they blame?  President Lincoln.