Download Chapter 20 Focus Questions: Essay question: Assess the validity of

Chapter 20 Focus Questions:
Essay question: Assess the validity of the following statement, “The South’s devotion to states’ rights was a major
reason for its failure to win the Civil War.”
Objective Questions:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
17)
18)
19)
20)
21)
22)
23)
24)
25)
26)
27)
28)
29)
30)
31)
32)
33)
34)
35)
36)
37)
38)
39)
40)
41)
Why did European powers favor a civil war in the US and why did they favor the South (3)?
President Lincoln’s decision on what to do about the situation at Fort Sumter can best described how?
Why did the Confederates fire on Fort Sumter?
What impact did the firing on Fort Sumter have on northern opinion concerning waging war to preserve the Union?
How did Lincoln respond to the threat that four border slave states might secede – what legally dubious methods did he
use?
What advantages did the Border States offer to the Union (at least 3)?
Why did Lincoln declare that the North sought to preserve the Union with or without slavery? Who was he trying to
appease?
What did Lincoln say about the slaves from the beginning – was he fighting to free them?
What action was taken by the Five Civilized Tribes during the Civil War – who did they support?
Why did the Cherokee Indians decide to support the Confederacy?
How did the Union repay the Plains Indian tribes for their loyalty during the Civil War?
What were the North’s *(Union) advantages at the beginning of the Civil War?
What were the South’s *(Confederacy) advantages at the beginning of the Civil War?
What did the Confederacy have to do to achieve its independence?
What were characteristics that both Union and Confederate soldiers shared? (3)
What was Johnny Reb like? (3)
What was Billy Yank like? (3)
What was the greatest hardship that all soldiers faced during the Civil War?
What was the South’s greatest weakness during the Civil War?
What was the North’s greatest strength?
Why were the Confederate soldiers so hungry during the war? What caused that?
What did Northern soldiers eventually become known for?
How did the Union finally find effective high-level commanders?
Why didn’t the South’s foreign intervention advantage ever materialize?
Why did most working people in Britain side with the North?
Why did the British NOT try to break the Union blockade of the South?
Why did the South think the British would come to its aid?
Describe the Trent Affair and how it nearly provoked the US and British to war.
What was the Alabama and how effective was it?
Who was America’s minister to Britain during the Civil War and why was he important?
Who was Maximilian and which nation was violating the Monroe Doctrine by placing him in Mexico
How was the issue of Mexico and Maximilian finally resolved?
What were US (Union)-Canadian relations like during the Civil War?
How did the Confederate form of government affect the South’s war effort?
How did Jefferson Davis’s personality affect the South’s chances of victory?
Why were the problems that Abraham Lincoln experiences less prostrating (harmful) than those experienced by Jefferson
Davis?
Why didn’t Jefferson Davis exercise the arbitrary power wielded by Abraham Lincoln?
What all did Lincoln do to attempt to preserve the Union – especially his questionable actions? (3)
How did the Union army meet the demand for troops prior to 1863?
Why did the Union turn to conscription (draft)?
Why was the Union’s establishment of the National Banking System important?
42)
43)
44)
45)
How did the Civil War affect the northern economy – specifically, what two areas expanded a lot?
In 1860 what percentage of the nation’s wealth did the South possess? What had it fallen to by 1870?
In what (at least 3) ways was the Civil War a women’s war?
How many people moved West during the war and why?