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Hi, my name is Abraham Lincoln! I was the 16th president of the United States. I
served as president of the United States from March 4, 1861-April 15, 1865.
When I became president, the Civil War had already begun. Seven states had
already left the union, and my job as the president was to keep the union
together. One of the main causes of the American Civil War was that the
northern states and southern states had different opinions about what to do with
the new western territories. Both parts of the country wanted to protect their
way of life. In this lesson I will tell you all about why there was an American Civil
War.
The United States was divided into two territories: the north and the south. Each
state had its own way of making money. In the northern part of the country there
were cities, factories, and industries. In the southern part of the country there
were large farms called plantations and large amounts of crops were grown on
these plantations.
The North was called free states because there were no slaves. Free black people
lived in the northern states and could work in the factories for money. They did
not make as much money as the white people, but they did get paid for their
work. In the south slaves worked on the plantations and did not get paid for their
work.
In the meantime, the United States won the Mexican War and got new territory in
the west. The north and the south got into a huge argument over what to do with
the new states in the western part of the country. The north did not want slavery
in the new states and the south wanted slavery in the new states.
An abolitionist was a person who was against slavery. An abolitionist could be
black or white. There were many abolitionists in the northern states and they
began to speak out really loud against slavery. Of course, the south spoke out to
keep their way of life. They depended on slavery to provide free labor for their
cotton industry.
Some of the things that angered people in the north and made them so
determined to end slavery, was hearing stories from freed slaves or runaway
slaves who could give firsthand accounts of what happened on the southern
plantations because they lived it. Then there were people like Harriet Beecher
Stowe who observed some of the things that happened in the slave trade because
they saw it for themselves. In her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe talks about the
cruel way slaves were treated.
Frederick Douglas was an ex-slave and abolitionist.
wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe
People in the southern states got so angry with the northerners over the slavery
issue that they began to talk about secession; they didn’t want to be a part of the
United States any more. Not only was the south angry about the slavery issue,
they were also angry that I had been elected president. They were angry because
they felt that I was against slavery and would take sides with the northern states.
Before I even took office as president, seven states (South Carolina, Mississippi,
Florida, Alabama, Geogia, Louisiana, and Texas) had already left the union.
Southern states became known as the Confederate States: Alabama, Georgia,
Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, North
Carolina, and Arkansas.
Twenty-three (23) states remained loyal to the union and did not secede. Some
of them are Connecticut, California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Maine, and Pennsylvania.
The American Civil War began in 1861 when the south fired the first shot at Fort
Sumter. It ended in April 1865 after the union burned down Atlanta and
surrounded Richmond, Virginia. Over 45,000 people lost their lives, but in the end
the union was intact. The south had rejoined the union.
I would not live to see what life in the United States would be like after the Civil
War because I was killed two weeks later while watching a show at the Ford
Theater.
Student/Teacher Resources
http://www.thinkfinity.org
http://edsitement.neh.gov/tab_lesson.asp?subjectArea=3
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/
http://memory.loc.gov
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/
References
Abraham Lincoln and the civil war. essortment: Information and Advice You Want to Know.
Retrieved March 15, 2009, from
http://www.essortment.com/all/abrahamlincoln_rrzw.htm
Before brother fought brother: life in the north and south, 1847-1861. People and Places in the
North and South. Retrieved March 10, 2009, from
http://edsitement.neh/gov/printable_lesson_plan.asp?id=358
Kelly, M. (2009). Top five causes of the civil war: leadig up to secession ad the civil war.
About.com: American History. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htm