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background
In 1861 there were 34 united states of america, 11 of which moved to secede from the union and form the confederate states of america but the central issue was slavery. Many northern states eventually began to oppose slavery as opposed to the southern states which based their economy almost entirely on black slaves. -
The goals of the North and the South
The principal goals of the Southern states were to maintain slavery and separate from the union while the goals of the North were to remove slavery and mantain unity -
The great commanders of the north and the south
Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of USA and also commander of the northern Union, his main generals were Ulysses S. Grant. The president of the Southern Confederacy was Jefferson Davis and his leading generals were Robert Edward Lee. -
Free slaves
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued an executive order proclaiming the freedom of nearly 4 million slaves, but it was not recognized by the Southern states -
Grant vs Lee
On April 9, 1865, General Grant defeated General Lee
in the battle of Appomattox -
Lincoln assassination
On April 15, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth because he together with Lewis Powell and David Herold aspired to fire the Union government from within by eliminating the three highest positions in the state -
The end of the war
President Andrew Johnson signed the Peace Proclamation on August 20, 1866.
Slavery was abolished in all states but in order to facilitate reconciliation the North allowed the South to maintain a strong footprint of racism