When the Union forces controlled the Mississippi River, it ruined the chances of the Confederacy winning. One of the reasons why it ruined the Confederates chances was because the Mississippi River was the water route that the Confederates used in order to send supplies and soldiers. This meant they could no longer get new supplies to the Confederate soldiers. Along with this, it split the Confederacy in half. This meant that the Confederate soldiers in different states could not communicate very easily.
Prohibition would have failed regardless of the atmosphere, because people like to drink alcohol. The permisive attitude of the times (mild compared to today) meant there was little social stigma attached to those who ignored prohibition. People finally came to realize that all they did was stregnthen the mob and lose tax revenues with Prohibition.
Fillmore's letter was full of diplomacy, commercial ability and firmness, the president always referred to the Japanese authority as "your majesty", this represented the diplomatic recognition of the one who governed Japan at the time, besides that, he also treated him very kindly so that Japan agreed to trade with the United States, and at the same time exhort him firmly to abandon the old policies that restricted them from doing business with foreign countries on the one hand, and open up to new forms of trade, explaining how, when and what they could trade.
