THE ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS AND BRIEF OVERVIEW

Civil War Unit

US Civil War Unit: Essential Questions

What causes a civil war?What caused the civil war in the United States?How did technology, industrialization, and

leadership shape the outcome of the war?How does the US civil war compare to other civil

wars around the world throughout history?How does a country heal/reconstruct itself after

a civil war?How did the US heal/reconstruct itself after the

civil war?

Vocabulary

Civil War: A war between political factions or regions within the same country.

Secede: to withdraw formally from an alliance, association, or from a political union

Union: the collection of Northern states fighting to preserve the union of the United States of America (led by Abraham Lincoln)

Confederacy: the collection of Southern states who broke away from the U.S.A. to form their own country (led by Jefferson Davis)

Causes of the American Civil War

Slavery: as a moral issues; Northerners believing it was wrong and must be stopped; Southerners convinced it was good and necessary

States Rights: (basic differences in the interpretation of the powers of the Federal Government)Southerners believing in the supremacy of State Governments and Northerners believing in thesupremacy of the Federal or National Government

Economics: differences in economic interests of the regions; the North based on industrial development and development of free labor, while the South remained dependent on agriculture and slave labor.

Causes of the American Civil War

Culture: different regional cultures between North and South- rooted in differences from the first settlements of the 13 colonies

Fanaticism: the war was caused by fanatics on both sides who refused to compromise issues that could have been resolved through discussion, reasoning, and listening. Fanatics on all sides and from all parts of life- politicians, religious leaders, journalists- all had a large impact on public opinion regarding the conflict

The Start

Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States in 1860, causing 11 southern slave states to declare their secession from the United States and form the Confederate States of America ("the Confederacy")

The other 25 states supported the federal government, "the Union“, (in the North)

The Breakdown of Secession

Status of the states, 1861Dark Red: States that seceded before April 15, 1861Light Red: States that seceded after April 15, 1861Yellow: Union states that permitted slaveryDark Blue: Union states that banned slaveryLight Blue: Territories

THE UNION/NORTH

WHY FIGHT?Cause = Preserve Union of states

(And later to End Slavery)

THE UNION/NORTH’S OVERVIEW

22 Million people, lots of immigration and eventually Freed Slaves

7 times more manufacturing75% of all Railroads in the USControl of Navy and Merchant FleetCentral Government and strong/ diverse

EconomyAbraham Lincoln’s determination and

leadership

THE CONFEDERACY/SOUTH

Why Fight?Cause = to defend their homes/Way of Life

Fighting on their home landHistory of successful secessions in other

parts of the world (13 Colonies, Netherlands and Greece)

THE CONFEDERACY/SOUTH OVERVIEW

9 Million people but (3.5 = Slaves)New Government and undiversified economy

(Only “King Cotton” agriculture)Jefferson Davis as new President of the

ConfederacyDefensive Stance in battle (Only had to hold

off Union’s will to fight until they give up)Main General Robert E. Lee probably best

general in the war

The Emancipation Proclamation

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln justified his decision as a wartime measure, it ended up being one of his greatest military tactics of the war.

The Emancipation Proclamation deprived the Confederacy of the bulk of its labor forces and put international public opinion strongly on the Union side.

Limits of the Proclamation

It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states.

It also exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control.

Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.

Consequences of the Proclamation

It captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war, to one of freedom

the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy,

By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.

African American Union Army Regiment

Civil War Fighting

Four years of brutal conflict were marked by historic battles at Bull Run (Manassas), Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Vicksburg, among others.

The War Between the States, as the Civil War was also known, pitted neighbor against neighbor and in some cases, brother against brother.  This was a personal war.

Another Turning Point of the War

At the beginning of 1864, Lincoln made General Grant commander of all Union armies.

Grant understood the concept of  total war and believed that only the utter defeat of Confederate forces and their economic base would end the war.

Grant and his men used harsh policies of destroying homes, farms, and railroads in the South.

The End

Southern General Lee surrendered his Army on April 9, 1865.

 Meanwhile, Confederate forces across the South surrendered as news of Lee's surrender reached them.

An official end to the war was declared on May 9, 1865.

Assassination of Lincoln

On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot by  John Wilkes Booth, a Southern sympathizer.

Lincoln died early the next morning, and Andrew Johnson became president.

Consequences of War- the price in blood

 At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000.

At any rate, these casualties exceed the nation's loss in all its other wars, from the Revolution through Vietnam. 

Battle Casualties

Breakdown- The North

 The Union armies had from 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men. Their losses, by the best estimates:

Battle deaths:110,070Disease, etc.:250,152Total: 360,222

Civil War Surgical Set

Breakdown- The South

The Confederate strength, known less accurately because of missing records, was from 750,000 to 1,250,000. Its estimated losses:

Battle deaths:94,000Disease, etc.:164,000Total258,000

Reconstruction

Reconstruction was a time of rebuilding and repairing the damage caused by the war – in the North and South.

The physical damage to cities, railroads, houses…had to be repaired.

And the rights of the newly freed slave population had to be protected and enforced in the South.

Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution

13th (1865): outlaws slavery except as punishment for a crime

14th (1868) : grants citizenship to everyone born in the US and subject to its jurisdiction and protects equal civil and political rights

15th (1870): which guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race

Failure?

Even though these important rights were guaranteed by these amendments, reconstruction efforts are sometimes regarded as a failure because it created an economically poor region where racial tensions still existed and freed slaves were still treated as second class citizens.