Name: Subject: History Grade: 7 Section: Roll No: 2022-23

History Topic 4 - American Civil War (1861-1865)

Introduction: In the 1860s the northern and southern parts of the United States fought the American Civil War. The war
started after 11 Southern states separated themselves from the United States and formed their own gover
nment/country. Their army fought the forces of the U.S. government. The Civil War threatened to break up the United States.
It is also called the War Between the States. However, the northern states wanted to stay as one country.

Why did the civil war start?

The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the
national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states.

Causes of the Civil War

While there were many political and cultural differences between the North and the South that contributed to the American
Civil War, the main cause of the war was slavery. Below we will discuss the impact slavery had in leading up to the war as well
as some of the differences between the two sides that led to such a great divide.

1. Slavery - At the heart of the divide between the North and the South was slavery. The South relied on slavery for labor
to work the fields. Many people in the North believed that slavery was wrong and evil. These people were called
abolitionists. They wanted slavery to be illegal throughout the United States. Abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass,
John Brown, Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe began to convince more and more people of the evil of slavery.
This made wealthy landowners in the South fearful that their way of life would come to an end.

2. States' Rights - The idea of states' rights was not new to the Civil War. Since the Constitution was first written there had
been arguments about how much power the states should have versus how much power the federal government should
have. The southern states felt that the federal government was taking away their rights and powers.

3. Expansion - As the United States continued to expand westward, each new state added to the country shifted the power
between the North and the South. Southern states began to fear they would lose so much power that they would lose
all their rights. Each new state became a battleground between the two sides for power.

4. Industry vs. Farming - In the mid-1800s, the economies of many northern states had moved away from farming to
industry. A lot of people in the North worked and lived in large cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. The
southern states, however, had maintained a large farming economy and this economy was based on slave labor. While
the North no longer needed slaves, the South relied heavily upon slaves for their way of life.

5. Bleeding Kansas - The first fighting over the slavery issue took place in Kansas. In 1854, the government passed the
Kansas-Nebraska Act allowing the residents of Kansas to vote on whether they would be a slave state or a free state. The
region was flooded with supporters from both sides. They fought over the issue for years. Several people were killed in
small skirmishes giving the confrontation the name Bleeding Kansas. Eventually Kansas entered the Union as a free state
in 1861.

6. Abraham Lincoln - The final straw for the South was the election of Abraham Lincoln to President of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln was a member of the new anti-slavery Republican Party. He managed to get elected without even
being on the ballot in ten of the southern states. The southern states felt that Lincoln was against slavery and also
against the South.

7. Secession (the action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state) When Lincoln
was elected, many of the southern states decided they no longer wanted to be a part of the United States. They felt that
they had every right to leave. Starting with South Carolina, eleven states would eventually leave the United States and
form a new country called the Confederate States of America. Abraham Lincoln said they did not have the right to leave
the United States and sent in troops to force the Southern states to rejoin the Union.

The Civil War had begun.

South Carolina Secedes (Below Image - Confederate Flag)

When the southern states decided to break away, or secede, they made their own
country called the Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy. They wrote
their own Constitution and even had their own president, Jefferson Davis. The
Confederacy was made up of 11 southern states including South Carolina, Mississippi,
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and
Tennessee. The first state to leave the United States was South Carolina on December
20, 1860 followed by the rest by February 1861. Jefferson Davis was the Confederate
president.

When the Southern states actually seceded and formed their own country, Abraham Lincoln and many others were shocked.
They didn't think that the states would really leave. When President Lincoln became president he was determined to reunite
all the states under one government.

The North (Union)

The North consisted of the remaining 25 states which were located in the north. The North was also called the Union to
symbolise that they wanted the United States to remain a single country and union. The North was bigger and had more
industry than the South. They had a lot more people, resources, and wealth giving them an advantage in the civil war.

The North and the South had been divided for many years over the issue of slavery. The Southern economy was based largely
on cotton, which was grown on large farms called plantations. Enslaved African Americans did most of the work on the
plantations. The Northern economy relied more on manufacturing. The North had small farms that used paid workers.
Neither side wanted the other’s ideas to spread to new states being created in the West. Northerners wanted to stop the
spread of slavery. But Southerners believed that the U.S. government did not have the right to decide whether or not slavery
should be allowed in a state. They feared that the government’s next step would be to stop slavery altogether.

Why did the Southern States leave?

There were a number of reasons why the Southern States wanted to leave. A few of the major reasons were:

● State rights - The leaders in the South wanted the states to make most of their own laws. In the North, people wanted
a stronger national government that would make the same laws for all the states.
● Slavery - Most of the Southern states had economies based on farming and felt they needed slave labor to help them
farm. The North was more industrialized and much of the North had made slavery illegal. The South was afraid that the
Northern states would vote to make slavery illegal in all the states.
● Western States - As there were more and more western states added to the growing United States, the Southern states
were worried that this would mean less power and voting rights.
● Abraham Lincoln - When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, it was the final straw for the Southern states. Lincoln
was against slavery and wanted a strong federal government, two things the South did not agree with.

The Fighting
The Civil War was the deadliest war in American history. Over 600,000 soldiers
died in the war. The fighting started at Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12,
1861. The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865 when General Robert E. Lee
surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

Timeline of the American Civil War

1. The Civil War Begins (April 12, 1861) - The South attacks Fort Sumter
South Carolina and starts the war.

2. More States leave the Union (April 1861) - within a short period of time
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas all leave the Union to
join the Confederacy. (Right Image - A Civil War Recruitment Sign)

3. Union Blockade (April 19, 1861) - Abraham Lincoln announces the Union
Blockade where the Union Navy will attempt to keep supplies from
entering or leaving the Confederacy. This blockade will weaken the
Confederacy later in the war.
 4. Many Battles of 1861 and 1862 - Throughout 1861 and 1862 there were many battles where lots of soldiers from both
sides were wounded and killed. Some of the major battles include the First and Second Battles of Bull Run, The Battle
of Shiloh, The Battle of Antietam, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. There was also the famous sea battle between the
two ironclad battleships the Monitor and the Merrimac. These ships had iron or steel plates on their sides for armour
making them much stronger and changing war on the seas forever.
5. Emancipation Proclamation (Jan. 1, 1863) - President Lincoln issues an executive order freeing many slaves and laying
the groundwork for the Thirteenth Amendment. (Right Image -
Emancipation Proclamation engraving by W. Roberts)

6. The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1, 1863) - A major battle where the

North not only wins the battle, but starts to win the Civil War.

7. Sherman Captures Atlanta (Sept. 2, 1864) - General Sherman captures

the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Later in the year he would march to the
sea and capture Savannah, Ga. On his way he would destroy and burn
much of the land his army passed through.

The Civil War Ends

1. General Robert E. Lee surrenders (April 9, 1865) - General Lee, the
leader of the Confederate Army, surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant
at The Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

2. President Lincoln is Assassinated (April 14, 1865) - While attending the

Ford's Theatre, President Lincoln is shot and killed by John Wilkes
Booth.

3. Reconstruction of the South (1865-1877) - The South is occupied by

Federal troops while state governments, economies, and infrastructure
are rebuilt. Much of the Southern United States was destroyed during the Civil war. Farms and plantations were burned
down and their crops destroyed. Also, many people had Confederate money which was now worthless and the local
governments were in disarray. The South needed to be rebuilt.

The rebuilding of the South after the Civil War is called the Reconstruction. The Reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877.
The purpose of the Reconstruction was to help the South become a part of the Union again. Federal troops occupied much
of the South during the Reconstruction to insure that laws were followed and that another uprising did not occur.

President Abraham Lincoln

U.S. Civil War: Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States in March 1861.
One month later, the U.S. Civil War, or 'The War Between the States', officially began.
1. Lincoln fought hard to keep the United States together as one country rather than splitting
into two: the United States of America and the Confederate States of America.
2. It required great character, integrity, leadership, compassion, and honesty, traits that Lincoln
is widely known for, to accomplish this feat.
3. Some people believe that Lincoln saved our country by fighting this war and not letting the
Confederate states succeed when they tried to form their own country.

Freedom for All:

1. One of Abraham Lincoln's most famous acts was the Emancipation Proclamation (signed January 1, 1863). The
Emancipation Proclamation immediately granted freedom to any slaves in Confederate states still fighting the Union
if they could get to Union (United States) territory. Before this, escaped slaves were often sent back to their former
slave masters like lost property.
2. At Lincoln's urging, African Americans were also allowed to fight for the Union against the Confederacy and earn their
freedom. Nearly 200,000 former slaves and free African Americans signed up to fight against slavery and for freedom
for all African Americans.
3. Later in 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in U.S. history, the Gettysburg Address.
This brief speech, that took less than three minutes to deliver, honoured the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for
freedom. In it, Lincoln reminded people that the United States was created on the foundation that ''all men are
created equal'' and that equality should apply to African Americans as well.
 New Laws: Abraham Lincoln was also president when two very important laws were enacted, or passed into law.

● In 1862, he signed the Homestead Act. Anyone who had never fought against the United States, including women
and African Americans, could receive a federal land grant to give them land to live on and farm as long as they made
improvements within five years. This allowed many poor people, women, and minorities to own land, something that
was very rare before this law.
● Lincoln also signed the National Banking Act in 1863, which created the banking system we use today along with a
standardised national currency (the U.S. dollar).
Assassination of President Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth.
He was the first president of the United States to be assassinated.

Where was Lincoln killed?

President Lincoln was attending a play called Our American Cousin at the
Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C. He was sitting in the Presidential Box with
his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and their guests Major Henry Rathbone and
Clara Harris. Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre which was not too far from
the White House.

How was he killed? (Below Image - The Pistol used to kill Abraham Linclon)
When the play reached a point where there was a big joke and the
audience laughed loudly, John Wilkes Booth entered President Lincoln's box
and shot him in the back of the head. Major Rathbone tried to stop him,
but Booth stabbed Rathbone. Then Booth jumped from the box and fled.
He was able to get outside the theatre and onto his horse to escape.

President Lincoln was carried to William Petersen's boarding house across

the street. There were several doctors with him, but they could not help
him. He died on April 15, 1865. Booth used this small pistol to shoot Lincoln
at close range.

Conspiracy
John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate sympathiser. He felt that the war was ending and that
the South was going to lose unless they did something drastic. He gathered some partners
together and first made a plan to kidnap President Lincoln. When his kidnapping plan failed he
turned to assassination. (Left Image - John Wilkes Booth)

The plan was that Booth would kill the president while Lewis Powell would assassinate the
Secretary of State William H. Seward and George Atzerodt would kill Vice President Andrew
Johnson. Although Booth was successful, fortunately Powell was unable to kill Seward and
Atzerodt lost his nerve and never attempted to assassinate Andrew Johnson.

Captured
Booth was cornered in a barn south of Washington where he was shot by soldiers after he
refused to surrender. The other conspirators were caught and several were hanged for their crimes.

Interesting facts about Lincoln's Assassination

● There was a policeman assigned to guard President Lincoln. His name was John Frederick
Parker. He was not at his post when Booth entered the box and was likely at a nearby
tavern at the time.
● Booth broke his leg when he jumped out of the box and onto the stage.
● When Booth stood on the stage he yelled out the Virginia State Motto "Sic semper
tyrannis" which means "Thus always to tyrants".
● The Ford Theatre shut down after the assassination.
● The government purchased it and turned it into a warehouse. It was unused for many
years until 1968 when it was reopened as a Museum and theatre.
● The Presidential Box is never used. (Right Image - The Petersen House is located directly
across the street from the Ford's Theatre)
Impact of the American Civil War
Outcome of the War: The North eventually won due to the South's lack of
resources, and after the bloodiest war in American history, the United States was
united again. After General Lee, the Confederacy's lead general, got cut off from
the remainder of his supplies at Appomattox County in Virginia, he raised the
white flag and the war ended on April 9th, 1865. Both the Union and the
Confederacy had some major changes to adapt to. In 1863, Lincoln had delivered
the Emancipation Proclamation, in which he had proclaimed all slaves to be free
as a show of federal strength. After the South's surrender and re-entry, this
applied to all slaves held in the South. Unfortunately, this victory seemed
short-lived, as Lincoln was assassinated on April 14th, 1965. (Left Image -
Abraham Lincoln with Soldiers)

The Impact: The impact of the Civil War was two-fold. Within the government, federal powers were strengthened and the
federal government was given power to hold legislature over the states. It also required the first income tax throughout the
country. Following the Civil War, there was a complete shift in the way federal rights vs. states rights were viewed. During the
war, the workplace saw a boom in women in the workplace, which did not change after the war ended. The biggest social
change was that all 3.5 million slaves throughout the entire country were freed and Black Americans had the ability to
participate within society—at least until Jim Crow laws and segregation.

Consequences of the Civil War: The South faced consequences for the war during the reconstruction era. Almost all of the
wealth the South had boasted had been spent and the banks and railroads were all bankrupt, which left the South reeling
and unsure of how to reintegrate. Reconstruction aimed to protect its citizens (all citizens, including newly recognized Black
American citizens) while also rebuilding infrastructure and economy in the South. It is often looked upon negatively, as one of
the goals was political reintegration, which was seen as a negative sort of disrespectful re-education for the Antebellum
South despite the fact that it was necessary for unity.

As ideologies spread and polarized ex-slave owners and abolitionists, a sense of anger and toxicity spread amongst
Antebellum men and women. Shame and pressure from newly freed slaves did nothing to quell that anger, and narratives of
violent slaves controlling the white population during the reconstruction era still run rampant even though they are untrue
and ex-slaves integrated into society relatively painlessly, despite the animosity received from white counter-parts.
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