American Civil War
The American Civil War was a war fought from 1861 to 1865 between northern and southern states of the United States of America. A group of states in the southern United States ("the South") wanted to be independent, while the federal government and the states in the northern United States ("the North") wanted to keep the US as one country. The war was won by the North.
Causes
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In the South, most African-Americans were slaves. Much of the work on big farms was done by these slaves. In the North, the states had decided to make laws to say no one could own another person. These states were called "free states". States where the law said someone could own slaves were called "slave states". Also, a large part of land belonging to the United States in the west was not yet divided into states. This land was divided into territories and there were few non-Native American that lived there. Unlike the states, the territories did not help decide who became president and did not send people to Washington D.C. to make laws for the whole country. More and more white people moved into the territories, and most agreed that one day all the territories should be organized into states. People in the free states wanted these new states to be free states, too. In the South, people thought they should be slave states.
Abraham Lincoln was from the North, and when he ran for President he said that any territory that wanted to become a new state should not be a slave state. People in the South who owned slaves were afraid of people who said they wanted to make it a crime to own slaves in all parts of the United States. Fighting and killings took place several years before the Civil War because of this. An example of killings before the war is a series of events called "Bleeding Kansas", which was a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
Another thing that led to bad feelings between the North and South was the fact that life was very different in the North than in the South. Many people in the North lived in cities and worked in factories. They wanted policies and laws (rules) that helped their economy. Most people in the South lived in small towns and worked on farms, and wanted policies that helped their economy. Because of these differences, they often could not agree on which policies were best.
When Abraham Lincoln became the new President, many of the slave states decided to leave the United States of America, and ended up forming a new country, the Confederate States of America, with a capital in Richmond, Virginia.
The war
There were two important areas where the American Civil War was fought - in the west and in the east.
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In the eastern area, there was the US capital, Washington D.C., and the Confederate capital, Richmond. These two cities are only about 90 miles apart. In this area, the Confederate military leader from 1862 until the end of the war was Robert E. Lee. Lee was a great general, and won many battles. Many times, his actions prevented the smaller number of Confederate troops from being badly beaten or destroyed by the Union troops. Even though the North had more soldiers, they could not capture Richmond until the end of the war in 1865.
In the western area, there was the great river, the Mississippi. Ulysses S. Grant (who later became US President) won many battles here. The North captured almost all the cities on the Mississippi River, but the Confederacy still held Vicksburg, an important city and fort. On the 4th of July, 1863, following a long siege, Vicksburg surrendered to Grant. This divided the Confederacy into two. This victory is considered to be one of the turning points of the war.
Another major turning point occurred at about the same time in the east. After several victories, General Lee decided to invade the North. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia went into Pennsylvania. The Confederate army met the Union army near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought over a three day period, July 1-3 in 1863. The invasion was stopped by the Union, and Lee and the Confederate Union were made to go back to the South.
Lincoln decided that Ulysses S. Grant was his best general. He put Grant in control of all the Union armies. Grant attacked Lee again and again. Lee held out time and time again, but eventually the number of Union soldiers was too much for the smaller Confederate army. Lee decided he had too few soldiers to keep on fighting and he surrendered to Grant on April 9, 1865, near Appomattox Court House.
After the war
Many soldiers died for both sides during the war. The South was hurt the most because most of the war was fought there. The South's economy was hurt very badly, too. The Union Army stayed in some Southern states for many years. This time is called "Reconstruction". Reconstruction ended in 1877.
Also, soon after the war, several constitutional amendments were made by the US government and passed with enough support from the people. Slavery was ended by the 13th Amendment. The 14th Amendment makes it clear that all people born in the United States are citizens with equal rights that cannot be taken away unless they do something against the law. The 15th Amendment says that people in the United States cannot be kept from voting because of their race. (Citizens could be stopped from voting because of their gender, however. It was not until the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920 that women could vote.) Other facts are that Generals Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, and McKinley became presidents or ran for the office.
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