"The North can't afford to have the mouth of the Mississippi in a foreign country."

[raccoon]

A white male Southern character in a fiction novel said that right before the beginning of the Civil War.

ELI5, please: why would that be?

[AleksS]

1. Especially at the time, but even now, the Mississippi was a MAJOR shipping route

Shipping things on the Mississippi was a big deal. Having access controlled by another country (the CSA) would be a major burden.

Especially since the North relied on industry and being able to bring in raw materials, unrestricted access to that major shipping lane was vital.

[CanonRay]

2. Virtually all the agricultural products from

Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Missouri went out this way.

[Sneederbunk]

3. One of the North's underrated victories was

the capture of New Orleans (South's largest city) early in the war.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

4. The North does not

need the mouth of the Mississippi; we have the Great Lakes. Just dam up the river or flood out the southern states. I am not advocating this. I think the Red River of the North is the only river that flows north, so just stop the flow of all rivers south...that would be a huge problem for the South.