The US Civil War (1861-1865)

Question 1

Causes of the US Civil War

Answer 1

• Differences over the issue of slavery
• South supported slavery, whereas the North opposed it
• Long-standing sectional differences not fully resolved when the US Constitution was ratified in 1789
• 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
• 7 slave states in the deep South (soon 11) seceded and formed the Confederate States of America
• The states that did not join the Confederacy were known as the Union

Question 2

Consequences of the
US Civil War

Answer 2

• Confederacy collapsed, Union was preserved
• Immense loss of life and destruction the country had never seen before, total of 618,000 was significantly greater than the US lost in WW2 (ytc)
• Economic expense was substantial, Union spent $2.3 billion and Confederacy spent $1 billion, North continued to face prosperity during the war however the South were impoverished, suffering war damage, South took more than half a century to recover from the effects of war
• War ended politically but there were still deep divisions between the North and South, unsure about what to do with the defeated states
• Emancipation of 3.5 million slaves

Question 3

The Emancipation of Proclamation
(January 1863)

Answer 3

• An executive order by President Lincoln
• Changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million slaves in 10 secessionist, Confederate states, those enslaved became free
• As soon as a slave escaped Confederate control, the slave became permanently free
• Union victory brought the proclamation into effect in all of the former Confederacy
• Did NOT officially end slavery

Question 4

The Gettysburg Address
(November 1863)

Answer 4

• November 19th 1863
• Speech delivered by President Lincoln during the Civil War
• Dedicated to the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
• Given 4 1/2 months after Union armies defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg
• One of the best known speeches in American history