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Causes leading up to the Civil War
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Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. -
Lewis and Clark Expedition
Their mission was to explore the unknown territory, establish trade with the Natives and affirm the sovereignty of the United States in the region. One of their goals was to find a waterway from the US to the Pacific Ocean. -
War of 1812
The United States declared war on Britain in 1812. It did so because Britain refused to stop seizing American ships that traded with France—Britain's enemy in Europe. -
States' Rights
It was fueled by the divisive issue of whether slavery would be allowed in the new territories forming as the nation expanded westward. -
Missouri Compromise
It temporarily solved the problem of seccession. It established lands west of the Mississippi and below latitude 36º30' as slave and north of the line—except Missouri—as free. -
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny held that the United States was destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent. -
Dred Scott Case
A case in which the Court decided that slaves who were descendants of American slaves were not citizens of the United States under Article III of the Constitution. The Court also used the decision to strike down the Missouri Compromise. -
Presidential Election
When the Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election, the South feared that the Republicans would abolish slavery which made it reach a new peak. -
Fort Sumter
When Confederate artillery opened fire on this Federal fort in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter surrendered 34 hours later. Union forces would try for nearly four years to take it back. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
Poor coordination of attacks by Union commanders, combined with strong Confederate defensive positions, resulted in a lopsided slaughter of Federal troops. The battle lasted 4 days. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The largest battle ever fought on the North American continent. Gettysburg marked the end of Robert E. Lee‘s second invasion of the North and was a turning point in the Civil War. It lasted two days -
Battle of Appomattox Court House
The Battle of Appomattox Court house was the last battle fought by Robert E. Lee‘s Army of Northern Virginia. After his attempt to break out of a closing trap failed, Lee met with Ulysses S. Grant to surrender his army. Although the Civil War did not end with the surrender at Appomattox, the loss of the South’s largest army was the death knell of the Confederacy. -
Battle of Palmito Ranch
The Battle of Palmito Ranch was the final battle of the civil war. This battle lasted two days leading to the result of the Confederates' victory. -
13th Amendment
Lincoln recognized that the Emancipation Proclamation would have to be followed by a constitutional amendment in order to guarantee the abolishment of slavery. The 13th amendment was passed at the end of the Civil War before the Southern states had been restored to the Union and should have easily passed the Congress. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. -
15th Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".