Teaching American HistoryLoudoun County Public SchoolsCreated by Chau DoDecember 2012

Causes of the U.S. Civil War

A Resource Collection for Virginia Studies (4th grade)

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.

Differences Between North & South

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 onthe left depicts thedistribution of slaves inthe fifteen slave statesas of 1860. Note thatVirginia still includeswhat would becomeWest Virginia by 1863.

Edwin Hergesheimer.Map Showing theDistribution of theSlave Population of theSouthern States of theUnited StatesCompiled from theCensus of 1860.Source: Library ofCongress (click here toaccess the site)

Slavery in Virginia, c. 1860

The historical mapto the right showsthe extent ofslavery in Virginiaas of 1860.

Source:http://www.virginiamemory.com/docsCivilWar_LVA0025.jpg.The VirginiaMemory siteprovides a highresolution versionof the map, as wellas access to awealth of primarysources.

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.the-athenaeum.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?essay=507

These images can be used to show how much manual labor was required on southern plantations.

These images can help students understand what slave labor involved and why the South was so dependent upon slavery.

Click on the photos to go directly to the source website.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion, 1831

Nat Turner’s August 183 slaverebellion in central Virginia resulted in the deaths of around60 white Virginians. Turnerhimself and 16 conspiratorswere captured and executed. Blacks suffered reprisals bywhites throughout the Southand Southern states tightenedtheir laws to further restrict therights of slaves and even freeblacks. PBS “Africans inAmerica” resource bank has adescription of the event andseveral 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-SlaveryThese 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 anti-slavery 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. Click on images for links. Above: Painting depicting slaves escaping along the so-

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

As tensions rose between Northand South in the 1850s, theRepublican Party emerged as anew national party opposed to theexpansion of slavery into western territories. In 1860, Republicansnominated Abraham Lincoln, anIllinois lawyer, as their candidatefor president. Lincoln won amajority of electoral votes but not asingle electoral vote from a slavestate. Southern slave ownersfeared that Lincoln would try toabolish slavery and sevenSouthern states seceded from theUnion between the election inNovember 1860 and Lincoln’sinauguration on March 4, 1861.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

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 pro-Union 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

Online Game

Interactive-Choose a side on the Civil War

Short Movies

Additional Online Resources