Transcript The Civil War 1861-1865

The Civil War
1861–1865
Essential Questions
• What social, political, and economic issues tended to
divide Americans in the period prior to the Civil
War?
• Why did the election of Abraham Lincoln seem to
exacerbate sectional tensions in the prewar period?
• What impact did political and military leadership
have on the conduct of the war?
• How did the war affect minorities during the period
(women, free blacks, slaves, immigrants)?
• How did the Civil War “make” modern America?
Fundamental Causes of the War
• Sectionalism and states’ rights
• Slavery
• Economic issues
The Dividing Union
•
•
•
•
Missouri Compromise (1820)
Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law
Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854)
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
Dred Scott
Cartoon criticizing the Fugitive Slave Law
The Election of 1860
Abraham
Lincoln
John C.
Breckinridge
Stephen A.
Douglas
John Bell
Electoral Votes in 1860
Secession
• South Carolina
was first to
secede
• Several other
states followed
soon after
• Virginia
seceded after
the Battle of
Fort Sumter
Seceding states appear in green
Discussion Questions
1. What were the three fundamental causes of the Civil
War? Which do you think was the most important?
Why?
2. How did the Dred Scott decision help bring the
country closer to civil war? Do you think the
decision made civil war inevitable? Why or why
not?
3. While running for president, Abraham Lincoln said
that he had no plans to abolish slavery. Why then
did Southerners fear his election so much?
The Creation of the Confederacy
• Delegates met in
Montgomery, Alabama
• Formed the Confederate
States of America
• Jefferson Davis elected
president, with
Alexander Stephens as
vice president
CSA President Jefferson Davis
Buchanan’s Inaction
• Believed secession was
illegal, but that acting to
prevent it was also
illegal
• Decided to let the
incoming administration
handle the problem
President James Buchanan