Download The American Civil War

Canada and the American Civil War
• The American Civil War is important to our
course because the threat of American
invasion was one of the reasons the British
created Canada as an independent country
• The British and Canadians were worried that
the USA would invade because of Manifest
Destiny, which was the American belief that
they were destined by G-d to rule the entire
North American continent and that it is the
American mission to spread democracy
• Also, Canada saw that they needed to form a
more centrally run country to avoid falling
down a similar path as the United States
The American Civil War
Causes:
• The northern states did not like the economic
inequality which occurred between the north
and the south due to the very cheap labour of
slavery, which occurred only in the southern
states, whose main economy was cotton
• Some in the north had religious or moral
convictions against slavery
• Abraham Lincoln was elected as the
President of the USA in 1860. He was
strongly against slavery
Events:
• After Lincoln was elected, South Carolina
succeeded (separated) from the United States
of America, called the Union or north
• They were followed by the other southern
states, who joined together to form the
Confederacy or south in 1861
• The first battles of the Civil War were pitiful
because neither side was well armed or
trained. The battles were decided by whoever
chickened and ran away first
• Most of the professional American soldiers
were on the western frontier fighting in Indian
Wars
• The Union had an advantage over the
confederacy because they had 26 million
people vs 8 million people
• Also, most of the American industry was up
north
• The main Union offensives were aimed at the
Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia
• The main Confederate offensives were aimed
at Washington D.C.
• The confederates were doing well, thanks to
the very good military leadership of Robert
E. Lee until their defeat at Gettysburg in
1863
• The Union was more successful on the
western front, where General Ulysses S.
Grant was gaining ground on the Mississippi
River
• In 1864, Grant captured Richmond and Union
General W.T. Sherman split the Confederacy
in two by capturing Georgia
• The Confederacy quickly fell apart and
surrendered in 1865
• All 4 million African American slaves were
freed with the Emancipation Proclamation
• The United States had the largest army in the
world when the war finished, which caused a
threat to Canada, especially since the British
supported the Confederacy
• The war caused 1 million casualties
Military Advancements: Early gatling guns
(machine guns), colt revolvers, breach
loading rifles, trench warfare, Ironclad
warships, submarines, better artillery