The Civil War began in 1861 due to longstanding differences between the Northern and Southern states over issues like states' rights, slavery, and economics. Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, and several Southern states seceded to form the Confederate States of America. When Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina in 1861, the Civil War began. While the South had some advantages in leadership and tactics, the North had a stronger economy, more population and resources, and ultimately prevailed. Key battles like Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Atlanta turned the tide in favor of the Union, and the war ended in April 1865 with Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court

1. The Civil War
(1861 - 1865)
Chapter 11

2. Why did the Civil War start?
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Because Northerners and Southerners had serious
differences of opinion about state’s rights, slavery, and
economics.
Northern leaders believed in the supremacy of the
national government and were against the expansion of
slavery.
Southern leaders believed in states’ rights and the
continuation of slavery.
Each section developed differently creating opposing
viewpoints about economic policies.

3. Preserving the Union
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Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860.
South Carolina voted to secede from the Union,
followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Texas – they formed a new country
called the Confederate States of America or “the
Confederacy”.
When they attacked the U.S. Army base at Fort Sumter,
South Carolina, in April 1861, the long feared Civil
War began.

4. Preserving the Union
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President Lincoln believed preservation of the U.S. was
the most important task.
He did not believe the southern states had the right to
secede and thought they were merely rebelling against
the government.
He never considered the Confederacy a separate
country.
When he called for a large volunteer army to preserve
the Union, more states – Virginia, Arkansas, North
Carolina, and Tennessee – joined the Confederacy.

5. North versus South
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When southern forces opened fire on Union forces at
Fort Sumter, they began a war that would last four years
and take the lives of 821,000 soldiers.
From the start, the Confederacy was at a disadvantage.
The Southern economy differed greatly from the
economy of the northern states, and in the end, the
numerical and industrial superiority of the northern
economy proved too much for the South to overcome.

6. Northern vs. Southern Economies
Northern Economy
Southern Economy
Based upon
Industry and Trade
Agriculture
Manufacturing
Resources
92% of US Industrial output;
generous resources to produce
weapons and military supplies
8% of US Industrial output
Employment
and Property
Ownership
Many citizens worked for
someone else and owned no
property. Even in large-scale
farming regions, machines
reduced the need for
agricultural workers.
Most Southerners owned slaves,
and the economy depended on
production of a cash crop such as
cotton, corn, rice, and tobacco
which required human labor and
depended on slavery

7. Northern vs. Southern Economies
Northern Economy
Southern Economy
34% of US exports; favored high 66% of US exports; favored low
Exports &
Views on Tariffs tariffs on imported foreign goods or no tariffs on imported goods
to protect northern industries
and jobs
to keep the prices of
manufactured goods affordable
Food
Production
More than twice as much as the
South produced
Less than half as much as the
North produced
Railroads
71% of US railroads; efficient
railway transport system.
Capacity to transport troops,
supplies, food, etc.
29% of US railroads; inefficient
railway transport system. Poor
capacity to transport troops,
supplies, food, etc.

8. Habeas Corpus
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Not all Northerners supported Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the
Union – some were Confederate sympathizers.
Throughout the war, in some states Lincoln suspended the
constitutional right of habeas corpus – the legal rule that anyone
imprisoned must be taken before a judge to determine if the prisoner
is being legally held in custody.
The Constitution allows a president to suspend habeas corpus during
a national emergency.
Lincoln used his emergency powers to legalize the holding of
Confederate sympathizers without trial and without a judge to agree
they were legally imprisoned – over 13,000 Confederate sympathizers
were arrested in the North.

9. Strengths of the North
Northern Advantages
 More railroads
 More factories
 Better balance between farming and industry
 More money
 A functioning government, an army, and a navy
 Two thirds of the nation’s population

10. Strengths of the South
Southern Advantages
 Leadership: Most of the nation’s military colleges were
in the South; most officers sided with the Confederacy.
 Military tactics: Because the South was defending its
borders, its army needed only to repel Northern
advances rather than initiate military action.
 Morale: Many Southerners were eager to fight to
preserve their way of life and their right to selfgovernment.

11. War Strategies
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Union Strategies
 Union commanders wanted a military
blockade of seceded states.
 They hoped to gain control of the
Mississippi River.
 They planned to cut the Confederacy in two,
along the Mississippi River

12. War Strategies
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Confederate Strategies
 Jefferson Davis hoped that Lincoln would let
the Confederacy go in peace.
 The South planned for a war of attrition – a
type of war which one side inflicts
continuous loses on the other in order to
wear down its strengths.

13. Technologies and Tactics
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Outdated muskets were replaced with more
accurate rifles.
Artillery improved with the invention of shells,
devices that exploded in the air.
Artillery often fired canisters, special shells filled
with bullets.

14. The Emancipation Proclamation
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It freed all slaves residing in territory that was in rebellion against the
federal government which encouraged slaves to escape from the
South.
As the number of runaway slaves climbed, the South’s ability to
produce cotton and food declined.
The North began allowing African Americans to join the Union
Army.
This was the equivalent of giving the North a new army larger than
the South’s to work behind the lines.
Lincoln believed one reason southern whites were free to join the
Confederate Army was b/c slaves were doing war work that,
otherwise, whites would have to do.
Besides preserving the Union, Northern troops were fighting for the
belief that the US would abolish slavery throughout the nation.

15. Key Leaders of the Civil War
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The Northern leaders thought it was illegal for
the Southern states to secede – they considered
the Confederates outlaws, not citizens of a
separate country.
Southern leaders put loyalty to their home states
above everything else – they fought for the
Confederacy to protect their homes, even
though they may have had misgivings about
secession.

16. Key Battles of the Civil War
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Fort Sumter – April 1861
Fort Sumter was a federal fort in the harbor of
Charleston, SC.
Confederate forces staged a 24-hr bombardment against
it and, by attacking federal property, had committed an
act of open rebellion.
To uphold the Constitution, Pres. Lincoln believed he
had no choice but to call for troops to respond against
the Confederacy.
As a direct result, the Civil War began.

17. Key Battles of the Civil War
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Antietam – September 1862
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The Confederate forces invaded the North.
The Union army learned of General Lee’s strategy.
On September 17, 1862, the two armies met at Antietam Creek near
Sharpsburg, Maryland.
The Union forces had more than 75,000 troops, with nearly 25,000 in
reserve. The Confederate forces numbered about 40,000.
By the day’s end, the Union casualties numbered more than 12,000. The
Confederate casualties were nearly 14,000, more than a third of the entire
army.
The Battle of Antietam became the bloodiest day of the Civil War.
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18. Key Battles of the Civil War
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Gettysburg, Pennsylvania – July 1863
Confederate Gen. Lee hope that an invasion of Union
territory would weaken Northern support for the war.
A major Southern victory might convince Great Britain
and France to aid the South.
In the course of a three-day battle, 51,000 soldiers were
killed – the deadliest battle of the Civil War.

19. The Gettysburg Address
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On November 19, 1863, some 15,000 people gathered at Gettysburg
to honor the Union soldiers who had died there just four months
before.
President Lincoln delivered a two-minute speech which became
known as the Gettysburg Address.
He reminded people that the Civil War was being fought to preserve
a country that upheld the principles of freedom, equality, and selfgovernment.
The Gettysburg Address has become one of the best-loved and mostquoted speeches in the English language. It expresses grief at the
terrible cost of war and the importance of preserving the Union.

20. Key Battles of the Civil War
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Vicksburg, Mississippi – May-July 1864
Union Gen. Grant laid siege to Vicksburg b/c the army
that controlled its high ground over a bend in the
Mississippi River would control traffic on the whole
river.
After a 7-week siege, Grant achieved one of the Union’s
major goals – to control the Mississippi River.
Confederate troops in Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana
were cut off from the Confederacy.
This Union victory, coupled with the victory at
Gettysburg, was the turning point of the war.

21. Key Battles of the Civil War
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Atlanta – July-September 1864
Union Gen. Sherman besieged Atlanta for 6 weeks
before capturing the vitally important center of
Confederate manufacturing and railway traffic.
Sherman’s goal was to disrupt the Confederacy’s
capacity to resupply its troops throughout the South.
Union troops burned Atlanta to the ground and then
marched to the Atlantic Ocean, destroying the railways,
roads, and bridges along the path, as well as the crops
and livestock his troops did not harvest and butcher to
feed themselves.

22. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
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Lincoln was reelected in 1864, Union victory of the war was
certain, and Americans saw an end to slavery.
Instead of boasting about that victory, Lincoln expressed
sorrow that the states had not been able to resolve their
differences peacefully.
He urged Americans not to seek revenge on slaveholders, their
supporters, and the Southern military.
He urged the reconstruction of the South.
He said the war was fought to preserve the Union as an
indivisible nation of citizens who would no longer profit from
taking their earnings from the labor of unpaid slaves.

23. Surrender at Appomattox
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On April 2, 1865, Lee tried to slip around Grant’s army. He
planned to unite his troops with those of General Johnston.
Lee hoped that together they would be able to continue the
war.
On April 9, 1865, Lee’s forces came to the Virginia town of
Appomattox Court House. They were surrounded by a
much larger Union force.
Lee’s officers suggested that the army could scatter and
continue to fight as guerrillas—soldiers who use surprise raids
and hit-and-run tactics. Lee rejected this idea.
That afternoon Generals Lee and Grant met in a private
home. Lee surrendered, and the two men signed the
surrender papers.