Question

Explain in a short essay question in your own words

Causes of the Civil War (major political events and personalities involved)

Course of the Civil War (major strategies, armies, battles)

Consequences of the Civil War (Reconstruction

Answer 1

CIVIL WAR

The US Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865 and led to over 618,000 casualties. Its causes can be traced back to tensions that formed early in the nation's history.

Causes of the Civil War (major political events and personalities involved)

Major political event that led to the "War Between the States" are as follows:

1. Economic and social differences between the North and the South.

With Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793, cotton became very profitable. This machine was able to reduce the time it took to separate seeds from the cotton. However, at the same time the increase in the number of plantations willing to move from other crops to cotton meant the greater need for a large amount of cheap labor, i.e. slaves. Thus, the southern economy became a one crop economy, depending on cotton and therefore on slavery. On the other hand, the northern economy was based more on industry than agriculture. In fact, the northern industries were purchasing the raw cotton and turning it into finished goods. This disparity between the two set up a major difference in economic attitudes.

2. States versus federal rights.

Since the time of the Revolution, two camps emerged: those arguing for greater states rights and those arguing that the federal government needed to have more control. The first organized government in the US after the American Revolution was under the Articles of Confederation. The thirteen states formed a loose confederation with a very weak federal government. However, when problems arose, the weaknesses of the Articles caused the leaders of the time to come together at the Constitutional Convention and create, in secret, the US Constitution. Strong proponents of states rights like Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were not present at this meeting. Many felt that the new constitution ignored the rights of states to continue to act independently. They felt that the states should still have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. This resulted in the idea ofnullification, whereby the states would have the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional.

3. The fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents.

As America began to expand, first with the lands gained from the Louisiana Purchase and later with the Mexican War, the question of whether new states admitted to the union would be slave or free. The Missouri Compromise passed in 1820 made a rule that prohibited slavery in states from the former Louisiana Purchase the latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes north except in Missouri. During the Mexican War, conflict started about what would happen with the new territories that the US expected to gain upon victory.

4. Growth of the Abolition Movement.

Increasingly, the northerners became more polarized against slavery. Sympathies began to grow for abolitionists and against slavery and slaveholders. This occurred especially after some major events including: the publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, theDred Scott Case, John Brown's Raid, and the passage of the fugitive slave act that held individuals responsible for harboring fugitive slaves even if they were located in non-slave states.

5. The election of Abraham Lincoln.

Even though things were already coming to a head, when Lincoln was elected in 1860, South Carolina issued its "Declaration of the Causes of Secession." They believed that Lincoln was anti-slavery and in favor of Northern interests. Before Lincoln was even president, seven states had seceded from the Union: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

Key Personalities involved in the War:

1. Abraham Lincoln    Born in a log cabin in 1809, Abraham Lincoln became the 16thPresident of the United States.  The presidency gave him the job of Commander-in-Chief of the Union Army in which he had the responsibility for making key decisions and appointing leaders. Halfway through the American Civil War, while fighting to end slavery, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to declare that all slaves in the Confederate States would be free. He also gave his Gettysburg Address in Gettysburg,Pennsylvania at a cemetery to honor all the soldiers who had fought and died during the war.  While many citizens thought he was a great president, others disliked his views on slavery.
2. Jefferson Davis    Jefferson Davis was born in 1808 in Kentucky and was appointed to West Point military academy at the age of 16.  He was involved in many battles with different Indian groups and was a colonel during the Mexican- American War.  He was appointed as Congressman of Mississippi in 1845 and to the United States Senate in 1847.  He later became President of the Confederate States of America and as Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Army, he instructed the confederate generals on decisions during the Civil War.
3. Ulysses S. Grant    Born in 1822, he was appointed to West Point in his mid twenties, Ulysses Simpson Grant graduated 21st in his class of 39.  He became a second Lieutenant and held the rank during the Mexican-American War.  He rose to the rank of Captain, however resigned from military service in 1854.  His short farming career failed and soon he joined the Union Army after the North began to lose a series of battles during the Civil War.
4. Robert E. Lee    Born the son of a Revolutionary War hero in 1807, Robert E. Lee trained at West Point military academy and served as a Colonel in the Mexican-American War.  During the Civil War, he had strong ties and emotions towards the Union, and had negative feelings toward slavery.  Throughout the Civil War, he won many battles, however on April 9, 1865 he surrendered to General Grant at the Appomattox Court House.  He died and is buried in Virginia.
5. Andrew Johnson    Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808 in North Carolina. Politics were a part of his life beginning in his early years. He was a United States Senator in Tennessee and later became the military general. He worked his way up to being Vice President, along side of Lincoln. After President Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson filled his shoes as President from 1865-1869. During those four years, he focused on the Presidential Reconstruction. Through this phase of the Reconstruction, Johnson restored all rights and privileges of the southern states, giving them the entitlement to be part of the U.S. Congress. After his term as President concluded, he tried for other government positions. He was unsuccessful in being elected as a senator and as a representative in the House. Finally, in 1874, he was elected into the Senate. Johnson served the country until his death on July 31, 1875.

Course of the Civil War (major strategies, armies, battles)

The Major Strategies, armies and battles during the civil war are :

• The North largely executed the Anaconda plan devised by Winfield Scott at the beginning of the war, though no credit was ever given to him by anyone. In it, the South was to be blockaded and its internal water-ways, particularly the Mississippi River, were to be taken to disorient the south's communications between East and West and to cripple its economy. This was completed by July 4, 1863 when Vicksburg, Mississippi fell to Grant's armies.
• The other major goal was the destruction of the Confederate armies and revolved around the intention of taking Richmond. However, this took time as the South's best military commanders were in the theater, and forced a long attrition campaign, and the city of Richmond didn't fall until Grant's siege at Petersburg finally broke the Army of Northern Virginia and Lee began to retreat toward Appomattox.
• The Confederate plans were more complex. Thomas J. Jackson and a handful of other Confederate generals favored crushing the Union army in one battle and then taking Washington DC and then doing to Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and possibly Ohio what Sherman would do to Georgia and the Carolinas. Jackson and these officers, however, were never in position to control Confederate policy, and their only opportunity to do this was after the Union disaster at First Bull Run.
• Jefferson Davis favored diplomatic pressure being put on England and France, believing that they would accept their "state's rights" argument and declare war on the North. On Davis's orders, thousands of bales of cotton were left to rot or burned in the hopes that King Cotton would bring Britain and France in. Britain, however, turned to Egyptian and Indian Cotton and France wouldn't act without British support. Hopes for British and French intervention died with the Emancipation Proclaimation.
• After taking over command of the Confederate Army in 1862, Robert E. Lee's plan was to attack the Union army and attempt to inflict such defeats on the Union army that Lincoln would grow tired of trying to bring the South back into the Union and surrender. Lee's plans won tacit support from Davis, as Lee's objectives revolved around the Union Army and didn't require a protracted campaign in the North. However, these battles, while "successful" were costly for the South, and many of the victories were not decisive. For example, the Army of the Potomac defeated the Army of Northern Virginia in the Battle of Malvern Hill at the end of McClellan's Peninsular Campaign, and inflicted very heavy casualties on Lee's army. BUT McClellan, however, overestimated Lee's strength and kept retreating, essentially allowing Lee to claim the victory at Malvern Hill. The timidness or stupidty of many Union commanders in the East allowed Lee to gain some aura of invincibility and that his strategy could work, but after Gettysburg when Grant came East and worked with Gordon Meade, the Union army took full advantage of its numerical and logistics superiority and Lee's army rapidly began to melt away fighting battle after battle. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Lee had about 70,000 men, by Appommatox, Lee had around 20,000, facing forces under Grant numbering close to 100,000.

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Consequences of the Civil War (Reconstruction

Answer 2

Causes :
   Slavery
  

The Dred Scott Decision

Dred Scott was a slave who sought citizenship through the American legal system, and whose case eventually ended up in the Supreme Court. The famous Dred Scott Decision in 1857 denied his request stating that no person with African blood could become a U.S. citizen. Besides denying citizenship for African-Americans, it also overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had restricted slavery in certain U.S. territories. Learn more about Dred Scott

States

Answer 3

Causes of the Civil War (major political events and personalities involved)

- Slavery in the United States first began in Virginia in 1619. By the end of the American Revolution, most northern states had abandoned the institution while it continued to grow and flourish in the plantation economy of the South. In the years prior to the Civil War almost all sectional conflicts revolved around the slave issue. This began with the debates over the three-fifths clause at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and continued with the Compromise of 1820, the Nullification Crisis, the anti-slavery Gag Rule, and the Compromise of 1850.

The issue of slavery was further heightened by the rise of the Abolitionist movement in the 1820s and 1830s. Beginning in the North, adherents believed that slavery was morally wrong rather than simply a social evil. Abolitionists ranged in their beliefs from those who thought that all slaves should be freed immediately (William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglas) to those calling for gradual emancipation (Theodore Weld, Arthur Tappan), to those who simply wanted to stop the spread of slavery and its influence (Abraham Lincoln).

Abolitionists campaigned for the end of the "peculiar institution" and supported anti-slavery causes such as the Free State movement in Kansas. Upon the rise of the Abolitionists, an ideological debate arose with the Southerners regarding the morality of slavery with both sides frequently citing Biblical sources. In 1852, the Abolitionist cause received increased attention following the publication of the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the book aided in turning the public against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Course of the Civil War (major strategies, armies, battles)

- The American Civil War, 1861

Answer 4

While the Civil War was devastating for the United States in terms of human loss of life, it was also the event that caused the American states to finally become united. What were the major events that led to secession and the beginning of the Civil War? Here is a list of the top nine events that led progressively towards the Civil War listed in chronological order.

1. The Mexican War Ended - 1848 with the end of the Mexican War, America was ceded western territories. This posed a problem: as these new territories would be admitted as states, would they be free or slave? To deal with this, Congress passed the Compromise of 1850 which basically made California free and allowed the people to pick in Utah and New Mexico. This ability of a state to decide whether it would allow slavery was called popular sovereignty.

2. Fugitive Slave Act - 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850. This act forced any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. This was the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 and caused many abolitionists to increase their efforts against slavery. This act increased the Underground Railroad activity as fleeing slaves made their way to Canada.

3. Uncle Tom's Cabin Was Released Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among the Lowly was written in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe was an abolitionist who wrote this book to show the evils of slavery. This book, which was a best seller at the time, had a huge impact on the way that northerners viewed slavery. It helped further the cause of abolition, and even Abraham Lincoln recognized that this book was one of the events that led to the outbreak of the Civil War.

4. Bleeding Kansas shocked Northerners In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed allowing the Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide for themselves using popular sovereignty whether they wanted to be free or slave. By 1856, Kansas had become a hotbed of violence as pro- and anti-slavery forces fought over the state's future to the point where it was nicknamed 'Bleeding Kansas'. The widely reported violent events were a small taste of the violence to come with the Civil War.

5. Charles Sumner is Attacked by Preston on the Floor of the Senate One of the most publicized events in Bleeding Kansas was when on May 21, 1856 Border Ruffians ransacked Lawrence, Kansas which was known to be a staunch free-state area. One day later, violence occurred on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Pro-slavery Congressman Preston Brooks attacked Charles Sumner with a cane after Sumner had given a speech attacking the pro-slavery forces for the violence occurring in Kansas.

6. Dred Scott Decision In 1857, Dred Scott lost his case proving that he should be free because he had been held as a slave while living in a free state. The Court ruled that his petition could not be seen because he did not hold any property. But it went further, to state that even though he had been taken by his 'owner' into a free state, he was still a slave because slaves were to be considered property of their owners. This decision furthered the cause of abolitionists as they increased their efforts to fight against slavery.

7. Lecompton Constitution Rejected When the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, Kansas was allowed to determine whether it would enter the union as free or slave. Numerous constitutions were advanced by the territory to make this decision. In 1857, the Lecompton Constitution was created allowing for Kansas to be a slave state. Pro-slavery forces supported by President James Buchanan attempted to push the Constitution through the US Congress for acceptance. However, there was enough opposition that in 1858 it was sent back to Kansas for a vote. Even though it delayed statehood, Kansas voters rejected the Constitution and Kansas became a free state.

8. John Brown Raided Harper's Ferry John Brown was a radical abolitionist who had been involved in anti-slavery violence in Kansas. On October 16, 1859, he led a group of seventeen including five black members to raid the arsenal located in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). His goal was to start a slave uprising using the captured weapons. However, after capturing several buildings, Brown and his men were surrounded and eventually killed or captured by troops led by Colonel Robert E. Lee. Brown was tried and hanged for treason. This event was one more in the growing abolitionist movement that helped lead to open warfare in 1861.

A New Civil War Is Comingoutsiderclub.com/New_Civil_WarRights & Liberty Are Disappearing If You Agree, Read This Report

Who Is God?everystudent.com6 Promises from God. See What God Is Offering You.

9. Abraham Lincoln Was Elected President With the election of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln on November 6, 1860, South Carolina followed by six other states seceded from the Union. Even though his views about slavery were considered moderate during the nomination and election, South Carolina had warned it would secede if he won. Lincoln agreed with the majority of the Republican Party that the South was becoming too powerful and made it part of their platform that slavery would not be extended to any new territories or states added to the union.

We have already learned that slavery played perhaps the major role in bringing about the Civil War. Today, we will continue our discussion of the war by beginning with an understanding of how slavery continues to influence our social, political, and economic lives. Let's keep this in mind as we watch these two excerpts from the PBS show, African American Lives in which Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. examined the roots of many famous African Americans.

Discussion Goals - The Civil War: Goals, Strategies, and Consequences

1. To discuss the goals of the Union and Confederacy on the eve of the Civil War.
2. To examine the initial political strategies of the Union and Confederacy.
3. To examine the resources of the Union and Confederacy at the beginning of the war.
4. To explore the internal factors in the Confederate States of America that led to the Confederacy's defeat.
5. To understand Lincoln's presidency, especially his evolving beliefs about slavery and his role in passing the controversial 13th Amendment.
6. To understand the consequences of the Civil War.

n one respect, the Union and Confederacy had the same goal - to preserve a way of life. But all similarities ended there - because both sides wanted a differentway of life preserved.

Confederacy - Its goal was to secure independence from the North and to establish an independent nation free from Northern political oppression and the repression of slavery. The War from beginning to end would be a noble crusade for democracy for white people.

This goal was grounded firmly in the belief that the Constitution protected slavery, but the Union had denied that right. Southerners, therefore, had the right to secede as it was the only way to defend their right to own slaves and their belief in states' rights.

Their actions, therefore, were defensive as they had no choice but secession because of the oppressive politics of the North

Union - Its initial goal was to reconcile the Union, while its mid-war goal became to reunite states under a Union in which slavery was not tolerated. The war from beginning to end would be a noble crusade for democracy for all people, not just in America, but throughout the world.

• This goal was grounded firmly in the belief that the South had no right to secede from the Union and that secession was treasonous and paramount to an act of war against the Union.
• Their actions, therefore, were defensive as they had no choice but to call for troops after the firing of Fort Sumter.

As the war continued, the Confederacy's goals remained the same - BUT the Union's goal changed.

When it became clear to Lincoln that the North might lose the war and would only win with great difficulty, it became necessary to change the reason for fighting.

Freeing the slaves became that reason. Thus, the new Union goal was to retain and reshape the Union - by reuniting the states under a union that no longer tolerated slavery!

Union Goals. The union initially adopted four strategies:

1. Invade the Confederacy and destroy its will to resist.
2. Obtain the loyalty of the border states - Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, and in 1863, West Virginia.
   • This was absolutely essential for several reasons:

The border states had 2/3 of the South's entire white population, 3/4 of the South's indusrial production, and over half of all its food and fuel.

Each state was geographically strategic for the Union - Kentucky held a 500-mile border on the Ohio River; Maryland surrounded the Union capital on the north; Missouri border the Mississippi River and controlled its routes to the west; and Delaware conrolled access to Philadelphia.

To fight the war on Southern soil meant marching through hostile border states.

And how did Lincoln obtain the loyalty of the border states?

After Fort Sumter, the northern-tier of the slaveholding states - known as the border states - were still undecided about whether to secede.

Eventually, all four decided to stay in the Union, but pro-Confederate sympathizers existed in each state and men fought for the Confederacy in all four.

In Maryland, more than the other states, there were many Confederate supporters. Maryland stayed in the Union under duress; Lincoln declared martial law, arrested suspected ringleaders of pro-Confederate groups and held them without trial (by suspending the writ of habeas corpus), and detained secessionist leaders. When secessionists moved to block Union activity in the first days of the war, Lincoln stationed Union troops throughout the state and imprisoned most suspected secessionists.

In Missouri, an uneasy military rule by Union troops kept them in the Union.

Delaware was loyal from the beginning.

Kentucky declared neutrality which Lincoln accepted without a fight.

A fifth border state was created in mid-1863 due to deep internal divisions in Virginia. Its western counties refused to support the Confederacy because citizens had no slaves or interest in slavery. West Virginia was formally admitted to the Union in June 1863.

1. Construct and maintain a naval blockade of 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline.
2. Prevent European powers - especially Great Britain and France - from extending recognition of and giving assistance to the Confederacy. Lincoln knew he was in a bind as long as the Confederacy portrayed their rebellion as one for national self-determination. He also knew that if he could redefine the war as a struggle over slavery, Europe

Answer 5

Causes of the Civil War (major political events and personalities involved)

Causes of the Civil War (major political events and personalities involved)The Home of The American Civil War" site contains biographies of some of the major personalities, both North and South, involved in the American Civil War. These biographies are accompanied by an image of the individual where possible. However, they make no attempt to provide information concerning the individuals entire life, merely their contribution to the Civil War.

Robert Anderson

A pro-slavery Kentuckian but absolutely loyal to the Union, Robert Anderson was considered an ideal choice for commander in Charleston Harbor during the 1860 secession crisis. Having graduated from West Point (1825), he had risen to major, 1st Artillery, by the time of his assignment on November 15,1860.
       Given little assistance by the Buchanan Administration, Anderson was greatly perturbed by having to choose between war and peace. He took matters into his own hands on December 26, following the secession of the state six days earlier, when he moved his two-company garrison from barely defensible Fort Moultrie to unfinished Fort Sumter in the middle of the harbor.
       After the unannounced relief ship Star Of the West was fired upon by Carolinian gunners on January 9, 1861, Anderson, not wishing to start a war, withheld his fire. Later, after he had turned down an April surrender demand, Anderson was forced to return fire when the fort was bombarded on April 12-13. Forced to surrender, Anderson returned to the North with a sense of failure in not having prevented the war.
       He was appointed brigadier general, USA, on May 15, 186 1, and commanded the Department of Kentucky (May 28-August 15, 1861), which was merged into the Department of the Cumberland (August 15 -October 8, 186 1), which he also commanded. When his health began to fail, he was relieved of field command and given duties at various posts in the North. He was retired from the regular army on October 27, 1863, and brevetted major general for Fort Sumter. After the recapture of Charleston, Anderson took part in a ceremony in which he reraised the same flag he had lowered exactly four years earlier. (Swanberg, W.A., First Blood)

James Jay Archer

A lawyer and Mexican War veteran, James Archer resigned his captain's commission in the regular army on March 14, 1861, to receive the same rank in the Confederate service two days later. Although a Marylander, Archer was appointed colonel, 5th Texas, a regiment organized in Richmond from independent companies, on October 2,1861. He commanded his regiment, and sometimes the brigade, at the batteries at Evansport along the Potomac and on the Peninsula in the actions at Eltham's Landing and Seven Pines. He was promoted brigadier general, CSA, June 3, 1862, and given command of Hatton's old brigade of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee troops (that officer having been killed at Seven Pines). The Georgians were eventually transferred out and replaced by more Alabamians, but the brigade became known as the Tennessee Brigade. Archer's commands in the Army of Northern Virginia included: Tennessee Brigade, A. P. Hill's Division June 3-July 1862); Tennessee Brigade, A.P. Hill's Division, Jackson's Corps (July 27, 1862-May 30, 1863); Tennessee Brigade, Heth's Division, A. P. Hill's Corps (May 30-July 1, 1863); and Archer's and Walker's Brigades, Heth's Division, A.P. Hill's Corps (August 19-October 24, 1864).
       Commanding his brigade, Archer took part in actions at Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines' Mill, Frayser's Farm, Cedar Mountain, 2nd Bull Run, the capture of Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.
On the first day at Gettysburg he was picked up by an Irishman from the Union's Iron Brigade, becoming the first general captured from the Army of Northern Virginia since Lee took command.
       While imprisoned at Johnson's Island, Ohio, Archer let the Confederate War Department know through a paroled prisoner that the guards could be overwhelmed but the Southerners would have no way of getting off the island. On June 21, 1864, Archer was ordered sent to Charleston Harbor to be placed under Confederate fire in retaliation for southern treatment of prisoners. Later exchanged, Archer was ordered to the Army of Tennessee for duty on August 9, 1864, but he was redirected to the Army of Northern Virginia 10 days later.
       He was assigned command of his own as well as Walker's Brigades, which had been temporarily consolidated. Suffering from the effects of his imprisonment and the rigors of the Petersburg trenches, including the battle of Peebles' Farm, Archer died on October 24, 1864. (Freeman, Douglas S., Lee's Lieutenants)

Course of the Civil War (major strategies, armies, battles)

Civil War Battle Strategy Lesson Plan

Goals:

1. Students will understand the importance of strategy in Civil War battles by examining primary resources.

2. Students will understand the difficulties involved in creating battle plans as a commander through their experiences constructing their own battle plans.

3. Students will create battle plans in order to understand the importance of terrain in Civil War battles.

Objectives:

1. Students will examine Lee