Causes of the Civil War
What issue was the root cause of the Civil War, dividing the North & South?
Slavery!
Who was president when slavery ended?
Abraham Lincoln
What year was the Gettysburg Address delivered?
1863
What amendment abolished slavery?
13th Amendment
What was the Northern perspective of the Civil War? What was the Southern perspective of the Civil War? What was the African American perspective of the war?
Northern: The war was necessary to preserve the Union and end slavery. Southern: To defend states’ rights and preserve slavery AA: It was a fight for freedom, equality, and citizenship
What event officially started the Civil War?
The attack on Fort Sumter
What was the South’s economy based on before the war?
Agriculture and slavery
Where was the Gettysburg Address delivered?
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania at the Soldiers' National Cemetery
What did the 15th Amendment grant?
The right to vote to African American men
Which group used violence to suppress African American rights during Reconstruction?
The Ku Klux Klan
Which southern state seceded first from the Union?
South Carolina
What was one part of the Union’s Anaconda Plan?
To blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River
What does “Four score and seven years ago” mean?
87 years ago (referring to 1776)
What was the purpose of the Freedmen’s Bureau?
To help formerly enslaved people adjust to freedom with housing, jobs, and education,
What does Lincoln mean by “we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground”?
The soldiers’ sacrifice has already made it sacred.
What was the significance of the 1857 Dred Scott decision?
It ruled that enslaved people could not win their freedom by entering free states.
What did the term “Union” refer to during the Civil War?
The Northern states that opposed slavery
What document did Lincoln reference in his speech?
The Declaration of Independence
What system replaced slavery and kept many African Americans in debt?
Sharecropping
What does “government of the people, by the people, for the people” mean?
Democracy must remain in citizens’ hands.
What was the paradox of white liberty?
Many white Americans claimed liberty while maintaining slavery—freedom for some depended on the enslavement of others.
Explain one way women contributed to the war effort.
They served as nurses, factory workers, and spies during the war.
What was Lincoln’s main message in the Gettysburg Address?
That the Union must continue fighting to protect democracy and equality
What was one major success of Reconstruction?
The passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
How did the Civil War change what it meant to be an American?
It redefined American identity around freedom, equality, and shared democracy