Download 1. Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November of 1860. 2

Study Guide Civil War and Reconstruction
1. Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November of 1860.
2. South Carolinians believed Lincoln would be a threat to their way of life so they held a
Secession Convention in Charleston in December of 1860.
3. At the Secession Convention, the delegates voted to secede and signed the Ordinances of
Secession.
4. Many states decided to secede, or break away, from the United States.
5. Which state seceded first from the United States after Abraham Lincoln was elected
president? South Carolina
Abraham Lincoln
elected President
Virginia Tennessee
secedes secedes
South Carolina
secedes
North Carolina
secedes
6. Soon other states joined South Carolina and seceded, they wrote a constitution, and elected
Jefferson Davis as president in January 1861.
7. The Confederate government ordered Union soldiers to leave Fort Sumter which was located
in the Charleston harbor.
8. President Lincoln would not recognize the Confederate split from the Union and sent supplies
to the federal troops at Fort Sumter.
9. Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter before the supply ships could arrive. The
bombardment continued until the Union troops surrendered. The Federal troops were allowed to
leave peacefully and the Civil War began.
10. The Confederate ship, the Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy warship. In the
process of sinking the warship, it also sank.
11. Most of the fighting in the Civil War took place outside of South Carolina.
12. Believing he could end the war quickly, Union General Sherman led his troops across Georgia
and South Carolina in an effort to split the Confederacy and finally bring an end to the war by using
the tactic of total war. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia left behind
a trail of destruction of burned and ruined farms and plantations.
13. How did Robert Smalls help the Union Army during the Civil War? Smalls was a slave before
the war. He learned a lot about the Charleston Harbor when he worked as a dockworker, sail
maker, and wheelman. He was hired by the Confederate army to steer boats and deliver
messages to forts in the harbor. One evening he steered a Confederate ship out of the harbor to
freedom. He then provided valuable information to the Union Navy. He became famous in the
North.
14. Why was the Union Blockade successful? It was successful because it stopped the trade
between the North and South. The South couldn’t export their goods or import the goods they
needed.
15. All classes of people suffered as a result of the war. Items such as food, cloth, and needles,
thread, and other basic necessities were in short supply because Southerners imported these
goods when they exported cotton.
16. Some elite plantation owners volunteered to serve in the Confederate army. However, they
were not required to serve by the Confederate government because they had to supervise their
slaves. This led to the charge a “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.”
17. Independent farmers, middle class, and lower class men volunteered or were drafted into the
Confederate army. Women of all classes were left at home to tend to businesses and farms.
18. Reconstruction was a period of time after the end of the Civil War when the federal
government protected the rights of newly freed slaves.
19. South Carolina ratified the 13th Amendment, which granted slaves their freedom. South
Carolina leaders also passed black codes. These laws restricted the rights of freed slaves so that
they were free in name only.
20. The 15th amendment guaranteed African Americans the right to vote.