The American Civil WarFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comparison of the States of the Union and the Confederate States of America

Union Confederacy

Total population 22,000,000 (71%) 9,000,000 (29%)

Free population 21,567,414 5,500,000

1860 slaves in the Northern States 432,586 NA

1860 slaves in the Southern States NA 3,500,000

Number of Soldiers 2,200,000 (67%) 1,064,000 (33%)

Railroad miles (1mile= 1.6 km) 21,788 (71%) 8,838 (29%)

Manufactured products 90% 10%

production of fire arms (guns…) 97% 3%

Bales of Cotton in 1860 Negligible 4,500,000

Table 1

1. Observe the data of Table 1 and answer the questions on your worksheet.

Declarations of two politicians

2. Read the declarations of the two politicians and answer the questions on your worksheet.

William Lloyd Garrison, a prominent abolitionist, was motivated by a belief in the growth of democracy. In 1854, he said:

I am a believer in that portion of the Declaration of American Independence in which it is said, as among self-evident truths, "that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

So, I am an abolitionist. Hence, I cannot but regard oppression in every form - and most of all, that which turns a man into a thing - with indignation and horror.

Opposite opinions on slavery were expressed by

Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens. He Alexander Stephens. He said:

Thomas Jefferson‘s ideas in the Declaration of Independence were fundamentally wrong.

They rested upon the idea of the equality of races. This was an error....

Our new government is founded on the opposite idea: the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery - subordination to the superior race - is his natural and normal condition.”

Origins of the American Civil War

3. Read the text on the origins of the Civil War. Tick the

right answers on your worksheet.

The United States was a nation divided into two distinct regions separated by a cultural boundary:

In the North:

« The Union States »

In the South: « The Confederate States »

In the North, the States of the Union had a rapidly growing economy based on family farms, industry, mining, commerce and transportation, with a large and rapidly growing urban population and no slavery outside the Border States.

There was a high birth rate and large numbers of European immigrants, especially Irish, British, German, Polish and Scandinavian.

In the South, the Confederate States were dominated by an old plantation system based on slavery.

There were not many cities or towns, and little industry except in border areas. Slave owners controlled politics and economics.

However, 65% of the Southern whites owned no slaves and usually were engaged in subsistence agriculture.

Overall, the Northern population was growing much more quickly than the Southern population, which made it more and more difficult for the South to continue to influence the national government.

Southerners were worried about the relative political decline of their region because the North was growing much faster in terms of population and industrial output.

The main explanation for the origins of the American Civil War is slavery, especially the issue of the expansion of slavery into the new territories.

In the interest of maintaining unity, politicians had mostly moderated opposition to slavery, resulting in numerous compromises on slavery such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

Abraham Lincoln was favorable to the abolition of slavery. He also thought that the question of the abolition of slavery was causing too many problems in the USA.

He wanted the Northern States to have more political control on the Southern states because he realized the South more and more wanted to be separated from the rest of the USA.

He could not stand the idea of his country cut in two.

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the national election without receiving a single electoral vote from any of the Southern states.

His election resulted in the secession of the cotton states of the Deep South from the union and their formation of the Confederate States of America.

Hostilities began on April 12, 1861. The American Civil War was the deadliest war in American history, causing 620,000 soldier deaths and an undetermined number of civilian deaths. Confederate resistance collapsed after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

The war put an end to slavery in the United States, restored the Union, and gave more importance to the role of the federal government.

The social, political, economic and racial issues of the war decisively shaped the history of the centuries that were to follow.