Oh no, its the Civil War! It was perhaps on of the darkest chapters in American history where the country literally fell apart for the first (and hopefully last) time. When things seem like a mess in the US, it often gives me comfort that during at least one time period, things were definitely worse in the US. Anyways, read on to see who won the Civil War . . . (spoiler alert, it was Iron Man, aka the North).
Unit V Key Concepts
Key Concept 4.1: The United states became more connected with the world, pursued an expansionist foreign policy in the Western hemisphere, and emerged as the destination for many migrants from other countries.
I. Popular enthusiasm for US expansionism, bolstered by economic and security interests, resulted in the acquisition of new territories, substantial migration westward, and new overseas initiatives.
A. The desire for access to natural and mineral resources and the hope of many settlers for economic opportunities or religious refuge led to an increased migration to and settlement in the West.
Click to play the game . . .
B. Advocates of annexing western lands argued that Manifest Destiny and the superiority of American institutions compelled the United States to expand its borders westward to the Pacific Ocean.
C. The US added large territories in the West through victory in the Mexican American War and diplomatic negotiations, raising questions about the status of slavery, American Indians, and Mexicans in the newly acquired lands.
D. Westward migration was boosted after the Civil War by the passage of new legislation promoting western transportation and economic development.
E. US interest in expanding trade led to economic, diplomatic, and cultural initiatives to create more ties with Asia.
Commodore Perry mission to Japan to open trade in 1852
II. In the 1840's and 50's, Americans continued to debate questions about rights and citizenship for various groups of US inhabitants.
A. Substantial numbers of international migrants continued to arrive in the United States from Europe and Asia, mainly from Ireland and Germany, often settling in ethnic communities where they could preserve elements of their language and customs.
B. A strongly anti-Catholic nativist movement arose that was aimed at limiting new immigrants' political power and cultural influence.
C. US government interaction and conflict with Mexican Americans and American Indians increased in regions newly taken from American Indians and Mexico, altering these group's economic self sufficiency and cultures.
Key Concept 5.2 -- Intensified by expansion and deepening regional divisions, debates over slavery and other economic, cultural, and political issues led the nation into civil War.
I. Ideological and economic differences over slavery produced an array of diverging responses from Americans in the North and the South.
A. The North's expanding manufacturing economy relied on free labor in contrast to the Southern economy's dependence on slave labor. Some Northerners did not object to slavery on principle but claimed that slavery would undermine the free-labor market. As a result, a free soil movement arose that portrayed the expansion of slavery as incompatible with free labor.
B. African Americans and white abolitionists, although a minority in the North, mounted a highly visible campaign against slavery, presenting moral arguments against the institution, assisting slave's escapes, and sometimes expressing a willingness to use violence to achieve their goals.
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry
C. Defenders of slavery based their arguments on racial doctrines, the view that slavery was a positive social good, and the belief that slavery and state's rights were protected in the Constitution.
II. Debates over slavery came to dominate political discussion in the 1850's, culminating in the bitter election of 1860 and the secession of Southern states.
A. The Mexican Cession led to heated controversy over whether to allow slavery in the newly acquired territories.
B. The courts and national leaders made a variety of attempts to resolve the issue of slavery in the territories, including the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Compromise of 1850 and the Dred Scott decision, but these ultimately failed to reduce the conflict.
C. The Second Party System ended when the issues of slavery and anti-immigrant nativism weakened party loyalties to the two major parties and fostered the emergence of sectional parties, most notably the Republican Party in the North.
D. Abraham Lincoln's victory on the Republicans' free soil platform in the Presidential election of 1860 was accomplished without any Southern electoral votes. After a series of contested debates about secession, most slave states voted to secede from the Union, precipitating the Civil War.
Key Concept 5.3 -- The Union victory in the Civil War and the contested reconstruction of the South settled many of the issues of slavery and secession, but left many unresolved questions about the power of the federal government and citizenship rights.
I. The North's greater manpower and industrial resources, the leadership of Abraham Lincoln and others, and the decision to emancipate slaves eventually led to the Union military victory over the Confederacy in the devastating Civil War.
A. Both the Union and Confederacy mobilized their economies and societies to wage the war even while facing considerable home front opposition.
B. Lincoln and most Union supporters began the Civil War to preserve the Union, but Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation reframed the purpose of the war and helped to prevent the Confederacy from gaining full diplomatic support from European powers. Many African Americans fled southern plantations and enlisted in the Union Army, helping to undermine the Confederacy.
C. Lincoln sought to reunify the country and used speeches such as the Gettysburg Address to portray the struggle against slavery as the fulfillment of America's founding democratic ideals.
D. Although the Confederacy showed military initiative and daring early in the war, the Union ultimately succeeded due to improvements in leadership and strategy, key victories, greater resources and the wartime destruction of the South's infastructure.
II. Reconstruction and the Civil War ended slavery, altered relationships between the states and the federal government, and led to debates over new definitions of citizenship, particularly regarding the rights of African Americans, women, and other minorities.
A. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, while the 14th and 15th amendments granted African Americans citizenship, equal protection of the laws, and voting rights.
B. The women's rights movement was both emboldened and divided over the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution.
C. Efforts by radical and moderate Republicans to change the balance of power between Congress and the Presidency and to reorder racial relations in the defeated South yielded some short term successes. Reconstruction opened up political opportunities and other leadership roles to the former slaves, but it ultimately failed, due to both determined southern resistance and the North's waning resolve.
D. Southern plantation owners continued to own the majority of the region's land even after reconstruction. Former slaves sought land ownership, but generally fell short of self-sufficiency, as an exploitative and soil intensive sharecropping system limited blacks and poor white's access to land in the South.
Unit V in Maps
US Expansionism in North America
Underground Railroad in the 19th century
Election of 1860
Civil War (1860-1865)
Reconstruction in the South (1865-1876)
Sharecropping in the South
Videos and Links
The Following sites and materials are useful in reviewing the content of this unit
AP Notes -- American Pageant Textbook Summaries
Click HERE to link to the textbook summary page
Gilder Lehrman AP US History
The Gilder Lehrman site offers review videos, key concepts and an interactive timeline of the era. It also contains study guides and sample essays from key topics in the time period. Visit the Gilder Lehrman AP US History Unit V website HERE