Civil War Quiz DE History

Civil War Study Guide

1. Free Soil Ideology

   1. You don't let slavery go into the new Mexican territory after the war because it takes opportunities away from white people. Basis of the new republican party (WHigs) in 1840. Abraham Lincoln is the main person for this ideology. 

2. The Virginia Ordinance of Secession.

   1. First state to succeed from the union is South carolina. After that is Virginia. Virginia says the constitution protects our property rights and by getting rid of slavery they are stomping all over our property rights so we can no longer trust our government to look after our interests so therefore we will pull out of the agreement. Lincoln says they voluntarily signed the contract so they can't pull out of the contract. 

3.  Basic chronology of the Civil War and secession.

   1. Compromise of 1850, Kansas act 1854. Dred Scott Decision, Election of Lincoln, South Carolian secedes from the Union. Other states succeed. 

4. Lincoln’s changing attitude to emancipation.

   1. He uses the free soil ideology. He sounds like he is against slavery. Initially he says that all he wants to do is to stop slavery from spreading, but not stop it from happening where it already is. Lincoln thinks the war will end quickly, so they said let's not hurt them too much. But the war drags on so he decides he is going to emancipate the enslaved people of the south. His changing attitude is that by destroying the south's economy, he decides it will help end the war. 

5. The Emancipation Proclamation.

   1. It does not end slavery. It ends after the 13th amendment. Although it emancipated the slaves in the federated states, slavery in the border states does not end. Border states did not succeed from the Union until the 13th amendment. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

6. Union advantages and strategy.

   1. Anaconda plan. Blockade the ports of the southern states because the only advantage they had was cotton, they wanted to stop cotton exportation. They wanted to take control of the Mississippi river. They wanted to come in from the north with their armies and crush them. Union advantages are they have a larger population, more wealth, more industry, more railroad, nobody is blockading their ports so trade is functioning, they have more horses, pigs, etc. 

7. Opposition to the War in the North.

   1. The copperhead democrats couldn't give a shit about slavery. They were more concerned about the fact that the union was breaking apart so they were hypocritical about Lincoln fighting for slavery, so they backed up George Mcclellan and ended the war and brought the Union together. The other opposition was the drafts. Young men are being drafted and it's hyperacist. 

8.  Major battles of the Civil War.

   1. Fort Sumter, Battle of Manassas (Confeds Win), Battle of Antietam Maryland (single bloodiest day of American history (no one wins). Battle of Vicksburg (union gets control of Mississippi and its a Union Win), Battle of Gettysburg (Union Victory). Ulysses S Grant brings the army down and Robert E Lee surrenders south of richmond. 

9.  Sherman’s March to the Sea.

   1. As the war goes on Lincoln becomes harsher to the south and puts Grants in charge and his right hand man (Sherman) is in charge to destroy the south (the economy and morale). He has the emancipation proclamation and he burns down atlanta, and everything he sees, plantations, he reads the emancipation proclamation, etc. The free slaves join them. 

10.  Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural.

    1. Make sure to recognize it when you see it. Lincoln ends slavery, and then says in the Gettysburg address he reorganizes the meaning of the civil war. FIghting to get the unicorn together turns into fighting into a new birth of freedom, Everyone is equal, etc. Reorganizing the narrative of the civil war of the legacy of emancipation.  2nd Inaugural speech: This war was a punishment for God for enslaving human beings. At the end he says we are going to rebuild a nation with no hatred towards anyone, and be kind to anyone. 

11. Assassination of Lincoln.

    1. It happened at Ford's theatre and John Wilks Booth killed him.