1865-1890

• Territories could be admitted as either 'free' or 'slave' states after reaching a population threshold of 100,000
• Abolitionists opposed the spread of slavery into new territories
• In 1854, Congress passed the 'Kansas-Nebraska Act', which opened all new territories to slavery
• The Republican Party was founded on 20th March 1854, and opposed the spread of slavery
• The Supreme Court ruling in the 'Dred Scott Case' (1857) confirmed the legality of the spread of slavery
• The election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency in November 1860 led to the secession of seven southern states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas), forming the Confederacy
• On April 12th 1861, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, leading to the start of the American Civil War
• Union troops were commanded by General George McClellan, while Confederates were commanded by General Robert E Lee
• After the 1861 attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, four more southern states (Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee) seceded
• Although they did not secede, border states, such as Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland, were sympathetic to the Confederate cause
• The 23 states of the Union enjoyed massive advantages in population, manufacturing (including of arms) and railroad construction, as well as wealth
• The North had a population of 22 million, while the South had a population of 9 million (in addition to 3.5 million slaves, who were not fully counted due to the Three-Fifths Compromise of 1787)
• (1/2) Key battles of the Civil War were:

  
  

  • The Battle of Antietam (September 17th, 1862): the war's bloodiest day
  • The fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi (July 4th, 1863) and the fall of Chattanooga (rail and communications hub) in November: effected ended the war in the West
  • The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (July 1-4th, 1863): the Union forces repelled Robert E. Lee's advance, a turning point in the war, with Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address in November
• (2/2) The key events of the Civil War are:

  • In March 1864, Grant, now commanding all Union armies, invades Virginia
  • General William T. Sherman captures Atlanta in September 1864, aiding Lincoln's re-election bid
  • April 9th, 1865: at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, Lee surrenders, ending the US Civil War
• The key generals on each side of the war were:

  • Union: George McClellan, Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman
  • Confederate: Robert E. Lee, Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson
• Out of a population of 31.4 million, more than 617,000 people died over the course of the US Civil War
• On April 15th, 1865, a Confederate sympathiser and actor John Wilkes Booth shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln
• The Confederacy was led by Jefferson Davis, elected President in February 1861
• The Confederacy was supported by Britain and France, but they did not intervene militarily, which was re-affirmed when Lincoln released two convoys the U.S. Navy had captured, an event known as the Trent Affair (1861)
• The Confederacy struggled to maintain its supply lines due to blockades from the Union Navy