Download American Civil War - Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and

Causes of the U.S.
Civil War
A Resource Collection for
Virginia Studies (4th grade)
Teaching American History
Loudoun County Public Schools
Created by Chau Do
December 2012
Differences Between North & South
The United States as it
appeared in 1860, when
Abraham Lincoln was
elected president.
Students can examine the
layout of the states and
territories in 1860.
Upon a closer view of the
Southern slave states, students
can see that cotton and other
cash crops, such as tobacco and
rice, were major features of the
South’s agricultural economy.
This interactive website (created
by teachingamericanhistory.org)
allows students to view the
number of slaves in each state in
1860.
By scrolling the mouse over a
particular state, they can see the
actual number of slaves.
Students can also see that the
population of free blacks was
much higher in the northern
states.
The Extent of Slavery in the South
The historical map on
the left depicts the
distribution of slaves in
the fifteen slave states
as of 1860. Note that
Virginia still includes
what would become
West Virginia by 1863.
Edwin Hergesheimer.
Map Showing the
Distribution of the
Slave Population of the
Southern States of the
United States
Compiled from the
Census of 1860.
Source: Library of
Congress (click here to
access the site)
Slavery in Virginia, c. 1860
The historical map
to the right shows
the extent of
slavery in Virginia
as of 1860.
Source:
http://www.virginia
memory.com/docs
CivilWar_LVA002
5.jpg.
The Virginia
Memory site
provides a high
resolution version
of the map, as well
as access to a
wealth of primary
sources.
Views of the Old South:
The paintings of 19th-century South Carolina
artist William Aiken Walker depict scenes of
the “Old South” before the Civil War. Check
the following website for the images here and
other Walker works: http://www.theathenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=du&aid=718.
A detailed biography for Walker can be found
at:
http://www.fineoldart.com/browse_by_essay.html?es
say=507
These
images can
be used to
show how
much
manual labor
was required
on southern
plantations.
Click on the photos to go directly to the
source website.
These images can
help students
understand what
slave labor involved
and why the South
was so dependent
upon slavery.
Nat Turner’s Rebellion, 1831
Nat Turner’s August 183 slave
rebellion in central Virginia
resulted in the deaths of around
60 white Virginians. Turner
himself and 16 conspirators
were captured and executed.
Blacks suffered reprisals by
whites throughout the South
and Southern states tightened
their laws to further restrict the
rights of slaves and even free
blacks. PBS “Africans in
America” resource bank has a
description of the event and
several primary sources,
including images and articles.
Source: Samuel Warner, Authentic and impartial narrative of the tragical scene which was witnessed in
Southampton County (Virginia) . . . (New York, 1831)—Prints and Photographs Division, Library of
Congress.http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6811/
Pro-Slavery
These images are
related to the domestic
slave trade as well as
the views of those who
wanted to maintain
slavery. Southern white
slave owners tried to
paint a positive picture of
slave life that was
challenged by
abolitionists.
Click on the image to access
the source website.
Abolitionists Campaign for
the End of Slavery
Even as Southerners tried to defend slavery, support for the
abolition of slavery grew in the North in the decades prior to
the Civil War. Abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison
and Frederick Douglass argued for the immediate end of
slavery but were often considered too radical in their views,
even by fellow Northerners. Passage of a stronger Fugitive
Slave Act in 1851, which required that Northern officials
help to return escaped slaves back to the South, helped
increase support for the abolitionist cause.
Click on the image to
access the source website.
During the 1850s, abolitionists became
increasingly active in their opposition to
slavery. Harriet Tubman and other
“conductors” led escaped slaves to freedom
along the “Underground Railroad,” Harriet
Beecher Stowe wrote the popular antislavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (published
in 1852), and radical John Brown (pictured in
a famous mural painting below right) led an
ill-fated attempt to lead a slave rebellion by
leading an unsuccessful raid on the federal
arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in 1859.
Above: Painting depicting slaves escaping along the soClick on images for links.
called Underground Railroad. Source: Library of Congress.
Photo of Harriet
Tubman
Cover of Uncle
Tom’s Cabin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25IzGDvL5oM
The Election of 1860
The American Presidency Project at UC – Santa Barbara
maintains detailed state-by-state results of voting in each
presidential election:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1860
As tensions rose between North
and South in the 1850s, the
Republican Party emerged as a
new national party opposed to the
expansion of slavery into western
territories. In 1860, Republicans
nominated Abraham Lincoln, an
Illinois lawyer, as their candidate
for president. Lincoln won a
majority of electoral votes but not a
single electoral vote from a slave
state. Southern slave owners
feared that Lincoln would try to
abolish slavery and seven
Southern states seceded from the
Union between the election in
November 1860 and Lincoln’s
inauguration on March 4, 1861.
President Lincoln and Fort Sumter
This map shows the states that seceded from the Union before and
after the fall of Fort Sumter, the border slave states that did not
secede, and the Union states.
Virginians could not agree on
the issue of secession. Over
40 northwestern counties
seceded from Virginia when
Virginia voted to secede from
the Union in the spring of
1861.
West Virginia became a proUnion territory in 1861 and
was admitted as a state of the
Union in 1863.
The Union Flag (North)
included 34 stars for
each state of the Union,
including the slave
states that had
seceded.
The Confederate Flag
(South) used from 1861 to
1863 included 13 stars,
one for each state of the
Confederacy, plus
Kentucky and Missouri
Additional Online Resources
Short Movies
Interactive-Choose a side on the Civil War
Online Game