Topic:
The Civil War Begins 1861-1865
Essential Question:
In what ways did the Civil War transform the nation?
You will learn that:
- Southern states seceded from the Union after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860;
- after more Southern states joined the Confederacy, fighting began on Confederate territory;
- army life and new technology brought unexpected hardships to millions of soldiers;
- the Union defeat at the Battle of Bull Run shocked the North;
- both the Union and the Confederacy won important victories in the first years of the war;
- abolitionists had been fighting to end slavery for many decades before the Civil War began;
- the Emancipation Proclamation promised freedom to slaves in the Confederacy and allowed African Americans to join the
Union army;
- the Civil War took millions of men from their homes, disrupting life in both North and South;
- as the war dragged on, social, economic, and political change affected both the Union and the Confederacy;
- General Robert E. Lee caused the Union many difficulties in the east;
- after a series of Southern victories, the North began winning battles that led to the defeat of the Confederacy;
- during the Civil War, important social, economic, and political changes took place; and
- the Civil War transformed the nation.
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