What was the Significance of the American Civil War?

Question 1

What was Lincoln’s attitude to slavery? What was the result?

Answer 1

Lincoln elected in 1860, finding slavery ‘monstrous injustice,’ which threatened the South where most supported slavery, despite 25% owning them.Thus, the Confederacy formed in 1860-1 between South Carolina and six other states.In 1865 Abraham Lincoln announced that the Civil War was due to slavery.

Question 2

Why did the South lose Civil War?

Answer 2

• Poor leadership by Jefferson Davis, Confederacy President from 1861, and Lee. However, they gave hope.
• Not a strong sense of nationalism. However, 500,000 volunteers were produced to fight for slavery and against the Northern enemy.
• Misery on the home front with crops destroyed, cities burned, and armies beaten. Lincoln re-elected in 1864.

Question 3

What were results of the American Civil War?

Answer 3

• Four million slaves freed.
• Union kept.
• In the South whites kept control of slaves.
• Lincoln portrayed as a blood and iron man. In 1862 he issued his Emancipation Proclamation claiming men to be equal but valued Union over abolition.
• Lincoln assassinated in 1865 by John Wilkes Booth.

Question 4

What were the North’s advantages over the South?

Answer 4

The North had 22 million compared to the South’s 9 million when war started in 1861, and greater industrial capacity, twice the railway track, and enjoyed naval supremacy despite how hard it was to blockade the Confederacy.
More defence tactics were used and trenches made appearance with longer range rifle muskets.

Question 5

How did the South end the Civil War in America?

Answer 5

General Robert Lee surrendered to Grant on 9 April 1865, while General William Sherman captured Atlanta.