The U.S.

Civil War

Student Work 4/13 – 4/17

What were the main causes of the war?
As you can see from this map, not
all states that had slaves seceded
from the Union. Border states
such as Missouri, Kentucky, and
Maryland stayed in the U.S. The
new state of West Virginia was
formed when parts of Virginia
refused to secede.

Historians have narrowed all the

events we have studied into four
main categories:

1) States Rights
2) Slavery
3) Tariffs
4) Sectionalism
 1) States Rights
• The South believed if laws passed by the national or
federal government were unfair they wouldn’t have
to follow federal laws.
• Remember the Nullification Crisis during Andrew Jackson’s
presidency in 1832? Almost from the start of the U.S. the
south has had a different view point on how they should
be governed.
• This is why the South names their country the Confederate
States of America.
• Federal = Strong National Gov’t
• Confederate = Weak National Gov’t (States over Nation)
2) Slavery The issue of States Rights, was
really about the southern
states afraid the North would
make laws banning slavery.

As we have studied, slavery

was a way of life in the south.
The relied on the free labor to
harvest and crow crops –
especially cotton. The
economy (it was believed)
would crumble without
slavery.

57% of South Carolina’s

population were slaves in
There were almost 4 million 1860. The other states are
slaves in the U.S. at the listed on the first map.
start of the Civil War!
 3) Tariffs
The North favored tariffs because it
forced Americans to buy
manufactured good made in the U.S.
This helped American businesses
make money.

The South was against tariffs,

because they relied on exporting
their crops (especially cotton) to
foreign countries. They knew if we
placed tariffs on incoming goods,
then foreign countries would also
place a tax on goods shipped to
them.
 4) Sectionalism
• The U.S. is such a vast country (third
largest in the world today) that there was
bound to be regional differences and
ways of life.

• Different jobs, environment, climate,

ways of living, religious beliefs, thoughts
of westward expansion, thoughts on
slavery, tariffs, internal improvements,
what to spend tax money on, education,
and money…depending on where you
lived your opinion would differ from
other sections of the U.S.
Differences between the North and South
The Industrial Revolution
first came to the U.S. after
the War of 1812.

As we have studied, the

vast majority of the
factories were in the
North as was the
population of the U.S.

Up to the Civil War, the

South was mainly based
on agriculture.

The North has more

factories, people, roads,
banks, and railroad tracks.
Roads, Canals, and Railroads in the U.S. in
the 1860s. There were three times the
amount of railroad tracks in the North.
North vs. South
• Who has more people?
The North

• Who has more money?

The North
• Who has a better mode of
transportation? The North

• Who has more industry and

factories? The North
What advantages does the South have?
1. Better Army –
Almost the entire Sourthern
Army is made up of members
who served in the U.S. Army.
The Southern Generals are
some of the best in U.S. history
including one of the heroes
from the Mexican-American
War – Robert E. Lee.

2. The majority of the fighting will be in the

South –
It is easier to defend than attack.
 Summary: advantages of each side
North South
Army that was 4X the South Better trained generals and soldiers

More Railroads and Factories Were invaded: Had home court, defensive
advantage

More money
Strong Govt. w/ a better skilled President

Telegraphs, rifles, and Gatling gun

 U.S. strategy to winning the war
At the beginning of the war Winfield Scott
was nearly 75. Scott had served in the
military for over 55 years and in every U.S.
was since the War of 1812.
Though he never commanded or fought in
the Civil War he came up with 3 primary
objectives or goals to defeating the
Confederacy. Scott and Lincoln both asked Robert E. Lee
to be the head general of the U.S. army. It
was Lee’s dream to lead the army, but
turned down the promotion when his home
state of Virginia seceded. He said he
couldn’t invade his beloved Virginia.

This picture is from Lee’s backyard

overlooking Washington D.C.
The Union had 3 main objectives for winning the war:

1) “The Anaconda Plan”

Create a blockade so
that products can’t get
in or out of the South
2) Take control of the Mississippi River
• By taking the river it
would split the
Confederacy into two,
and take away a major
shipping route of the
South.
3) Attack and take the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia
Confederate strategy:
The South had two main plans to
winning the war:

1) Make it a long drawn out war.

The more the north spends,
and the more northern
soldiers that are killed will
cause the northern population
to turn against the war.
2) Keep the war in the south
• This concludes History
Assignment #7. Use the first 16
slides of this presentation to
answer questions 1-10 on the
Google Form.

• When complete continue the

remaining 10 slides of this ppt
to answer questions 1-10 for
History Assignment #8
• Before starting the lesson, I
highly recommend watching the
first 10 minutes (the first 2
segments) of America the Story
of US: Civil War. This will give a Link to the vid
eo
great explanation and visual of
the upcoming material.
 Why was the Civil War so deadly?
The U.S. Civil War is going to be the deadliest war in American History.
Over 620,000 will be killed, and another 500,000+ wounded.

There will be battles during the Civil War that have more deaths than ENITRE wars we fight. In fact, you can add
up all the deaths from other wars in American history and COMBINDED they don’t have as many as the U.S.
Civil War.
What made this war so deadly?
1) Military Tactics. To understand why the Civil War was so deadly we
first have to understand how wars were fought:

Early fighting by ancient societies such

as the Greeks and Romans saw what we
call a ‘phalanx’. Huge groups of soldiers
in lines moving as a unit across an open
field.
How wars were fought
The type of military
warfare that the
Romans and Greeks
used, continued for
thousands of years,
even as the musket
replaced the sword.

Remember when we
studied the U.S.
Revolution and
soldiers lined up
across from each
other? This continued
through the Civil War.
U.S. Civil War - changes military fighting
history

…but the weapons were more

accurate, deadly, and powerful.
We still fought with the same tactics…
2) Better technology

Minie Ball
replaces the
musket ball.
It is 10 times
more deadly.
Musket ball vs. Minie ball

A soldier firing a musket ball would have to be within 80 yards of an enemy to be accurate.
This meant the troops got really close to the enemy. A musket ball would stop, and flatten
after hitting an enemy.
 Musket ball vs. Minie ball

Because a Minie ball fired with more force, it was more accurate, and much, much stronger. A Minet ball wouldn’t
stop when it hit an enemy…it would just keep going.

So, if soldiers are still using old tactics and getting really close…what is going to happen? Click to find out!
3) Medical treatment

Which brings us to the third reason the Civil War was so deadly – medical treatment. The number one tool
used by doctors on the battlefield wasn’t what you would expect – it was a saw! If you were hit by a Minet
ball on a limb, your only chance of survival was amputation. Many hands, arms, feet, legs, etc. were sawed off
of soldiers right on the battlefield or they would die. This led to rampant spreads of disease.
Disease during the War
Disease was the chief killer in the war -
claiming two soldiers for every one killed in
battle.

Hospitals were so unsanitary that one Union

soldier lamented: "If a fellow has [to go to
the] Hospital, you might as well say goodbye."

Bad water, starvation, diarrhea, bed bugs,

gangrene, and STDs claimed most lives.
The U.S. Civil War