AP US History 5.5-5.6: The Civil War

What conflict took place in the United States from April 1861 to May 1865?

The American Civil War, fought between the Union, or United States, and the Confederate States of America. The Union ultimately won, and the Confederacy was dissolved.

What was the relationship between slavery and the Southern economy before the Civil War?

Many Southern states depended heavily on cotton cultivated by enslaved labor. This economic dependence strengthened the region's commitment to preserving slavery.

Why was the expansion of slavery into western territories such a major political issue?

The admission of new slave or free states could alter the balance of power in Congress, especially in the Senate. The issue also raised the larger question of whether slavery would continue to expand or eventually disappear.

How did the Republican Party's position affect Southern fears before the Civil War?

Republicans, including Abraham Lincoln, opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories. Southern leaders feared that restricting expansion would place slavery on a path toward eventual abolition.

What was the central cause of Southern secession before the American Civil War?

The preservation of slavery. Southern leaders also sought to protect slavery's expansion into western territories, while the North increasingly opposed its expansion.

What was the immediate political trigger for the secession crisis?

Abraham Lincoln's victory in the 1860 presidential election. Seven Deep South states seceded before his inauguration because they feared his opposition to slavery's expansion.

Why did Lincoln's election not itself mean that slavery had been immediately abolished?

Lincoln opposed slavery's expansion but did not initially propose immediate abolition where it already existed. Southern leaders nevertheless viewed the restriction of expansion as a threat to slavery's long-term survival.

What did the secession documents of several Southern states reveal about the causes of secession?

Declarations from states such as South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas explicitly identified the protection of slavery and opposition to abolitionism as major reasons for leaving the Union.

How did Northern and Southern nationalism contribute to the coming of the Civil War?

White Southern nationalism encouraged the creation of an independent Confederacy, while Northern nationalism emphasized preserving the existing Union. These competing national identities made compromise increasingly difficult.

What constitutional debate was raised by secession?

Secessionists argued that states possessed the right to withdraw from the Union, while Unionists argued that the Constitution created a lasting national union. Lincoln questioned whether a republic chosen by popular vote could survive internal attempts to destroy it.

Which states formed the Confederacy before the Civil War began?

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas seceded first and formed the Confederate States of America in February 1861.

What was the Confederate States of America?

A separate government created by Southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861. Jefferson Davis served as its president, and the Confederacy was organized to protect the slaveholding social and economic system.

What was the Crittenden Compromise, and why did it fail?

It proposed restoring the Missouri Compromise boundary and constitutionally protecting slavery south of that line in the territories. Republicans, including Lincoln, rejected it because it would permit slavery to expand.

What did the Corwin Amendment attempt to do?

It sought to reassure slave states by preventing federal interference with slavery where it already existed. Southern states considered it inadequate because it did not guarantee slavery's expansion or fully resolve the secession crisis.

Why did the Union reject secession?

Lincoln and many Northerners believed the Union was a permanent national government rather than a voluntary association that states could leave at will. Preserving the Union became the initial central Union war aim.

How did secession affect the balance of political power in Congress?

After Southern representatives left, Republicans were able to pass measures previously blocked by Southern lawmakers, including legislation involving tariffs, land grants, banking, railroads, and emancipation.

What event marked the beginning of the American Civil War?

Confederate forces bombarded Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, beginning on April 12, 1861. The Union garrison surrendered soon afterward.

How did the attack on Fort Sumter change the secession crisis?

It transformed the political dispute over secession into open warfare. Four additional slave states then left the Union after Lincoln called for troops.

Which four slave states seceded after fighting began?

Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Their secession brought the Confederacy to eleven states.

What were the border states during the Civil War?

Slave states that remained in the Union, including Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. Their location, resources, and political importance made them strategically valuable to both sides.

Why were the border states strategically important to the Union?

They provided manpower, industrial and agricultural resources, and geographic protection for the Union capital and other vital areas. Keeping them in the Union also weakened the Confederacy's political position.

How did some regions within Confederate states respond to secession?

Many residents in areas with fewer enslaved people, especially eastern Tennessee and western Virginia, supported the Union. Western Virginia separated from Virginia and entered the Union as West Virginia in 1863.

What major military theaters were associated with the Civil War?

The principal theaters were the Eastern, Western, Trans-Mississippi, Lower Seaboard, and Pacific Coast theaters, along with naval operations such as the Union blockade.

Why did the Union have a major long-term material advantage?

The Union had a larger population, greater industrial production, more extensive railroads, and stronger financial resources. These advantages allowed it to replace losses and sustain a prolonged war.

What was the Union blockade, and what effect did it have?

The Union navy attempted to close Confederate ports and prevent the South from exporting cotton or importing weapons and supplies. Over time, the blockade contributed to shortages, inflation, and economic weakness in the Confederacy.

What were blockade runners?

Fast ships that attempted to pass through the Union blockade to carry goods into or out of Confederate ports. Although some succeeded, the blockade increasingly restricted Confederate access to foreign trade.

Why was the eastern theater initially less decisive than the western theater?

Union armies struggled to defeat Confederate forces protecting Richmond and northern Virginia. In contrast, Union operations in the West secured rivers, cities, and transportation routes more consistently during the early years.

Why was the Battle of Antietam important?

Fought in September 1862, Antietam stopped Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North. It gave Lincoln the opportunity to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and discouraged European powers from recognizing the Confederacy.

Why was the Battle of Gettysburg important?

It stopped Robert E. Lee's major invasion of the North in 1863. Together with Vicksburg, the Union victory at Gettysburg marked a major turning point in the war.

What was the significance of the Siege of Petersburg?

The roughly ten-month Union siege targeted Petersburg, a critical supply gateway to Richmond. Its fall forced the Confederate government and army to abandon the capital.

What military developments helped the Union gain control of the western theater?

Union forces captured key positions along the Mississippi River, destroyed much of the Confederate river navy, seized New Orleans, and won the siege of Vicksburg. These successes divided the Confederacy and disrupted its transportation network.

Why was the Union victory at Vicksburg strategically important?

The capture of Vicksburg in 1863 gave the Union control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy geographically. It also isolated Confederate forces west of the river from the rest of the South.

What was the significance of Ulysses S. Grant's promotion in 1864?

After successful campaigns in the West, Grant became commander of all Union armies. He coordinated simultaneous pressure against Confederate forces, helping the Union use its greater manpower and resources effectively.

Why was the fall of Atlanta significant to the Union war effort?

It weakened the Confederacy's transportation and industrial capacity and improved Northern morale. The victory also helped Lincoln politically during the 1864 presidential election.

What was Sherman's March to the Sea?

A Union campaign led by William Tecumseh Sherman from Atlanta to Savannah in 1864. It damaged Confederate infrastructure and supplies while demonstrating the Union's ability to operate deep inside the South.

How did women contribute to the Union and Confederate war efforts?

Women served as nurses, organized relief and sanitary organizations, produced supplies, managed farms and businesses, and supported military hospitals. Confederate women also endured severe shortages and sometimes expressed war weariness or resistance to the Confederate government.

How did the war affect civilians on the Confederate home front?

The blockade, loss of farmland and transportation networks, inflation, and shortages of food and manufactured goods placed severe pressure on Confederate civilians. These hardships weakened support for the Confederate war effort.

How did the Union mobilize its home front for war?

The Union expanded federal authority, raised armies, financed the war through taxes and borrowing, issued national currency, and used its industrial and railroad capacity to supply military operations.

What happened at Appomattox Court House?

On April 9, 1865, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union general Ulysses S. Grant. The surrender began the collapse of the remaining major Confederate armies.

What happened to Abraham Lincoln near the end of the Civil War?

Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, and died the following day. He therefore lived to see the Union victory but not the full process of postwar Reconstruction.

Why is the end date of the Civil War sometimes given as May 26, 1865, rather than April 9?

Lee's surrender at Appomattox ended the main Confederate army's resistance, but other Confederate forces surrendered later. Edward Kirby Smith surrendered the remaining major Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi West on May 26.

Why do historians distinguish between the causes of secession and the causes of the war itself?

Secession resulted from the sectional conflict, especially over slavery and its expansion, while the war began when the Confederacy used force against the United States at Fort Sumter. The distinction recognizes that political separation became armed conflict through military action.

How did the Union's war aims change between 1861 and 1863?

The initial priority was preserving the Union and defeating secession. With the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, ending slavery in the rebelling states became an explicit Union war objective as well.

What was the Emancipation Proclamation?

Issued by Lincoln on January 1, 1863, it declared enslaved people in areas still rebelling against the Union to be free. It changed emancipation into an official Union war aim and authorized broader Black participation in the Union war effort.

Why did the Emancipation Proclamation not immediately free every enslaved person in the United States?

It applied primarily to enslaved people in Confederate-controlled areas, not to loyal slave states or regions already occupied by the Union. The Thirteenth Amendment later abolished slavery throughout the nation.

How did enslaved African Americans actively contribute to their own emancipation during the war?

Many enslaved people fled to Union lines, where they became 'contraband' and provided labor, intelligence, and other assistance to the Union. Their mass self-emancipation weakened the Confederate labor system and pressured the Union to make emancipation a war policy.

How did African Americans participate in the Union war effort?

Nearly 200,000 Black men served in the Union Army and Navy, primarily in the United States Colored Troops. Their military service strengthened the Union and demonstrated African Americans' claim to citizenship and equal rights, despite discrimination and unequal pay.

What was the Thirteenth Amendment's significance?

Ratified after the war, it abolished slavery throughout the United States. It made emancipation permanent and national rather than dependent on wartime policy.

How did the Civil War affect the physical and economic condition of the South?

Much of the South's infrastructure, including railroads, farms, towns, and industries, was damaged or destroyed. The Confederacy's economy and political system collapsed with its military defeat.