The Civil War, fought from 1861 to 1865, was the deadliest conflict in American history. Its central cause was slavery, and in particular whether it would be allowed to spread into new western territories. After Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the expansion of slavery, won the election of 1860, South Carolina and other Southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. The war began when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in April 1861.
Both sides expected a short war, but it lasted four years. The Union had more people, factories and railroads, while the Confederacy had skilled generals such as Robert E. Lee and the advantage of fighting on home ground. The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, turning the war into a fight against slavery. In July 1863, Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg shifted the war in the North's favor. Ulysses S. Grant pressed the attack, Sherman marched through Georgia, and Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April 1865. The 13th Amendment then abolished slavery. This quiz checks causes, events, people and results.
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Answer: B) Slavery and whether it could expand into new territories
Arguments over slavery's spread west divided the nation for decades and led Southern states to secede after the 1860 election.
Answer: South Carolina (also accepted: SC)
South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860, after Lincoln's election. Ten more states followed.
Answer: A) Fort Sumter
Confederate guns attacked Fort Sumter, a Union fort in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861.
Answer: 1861
The war began with the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861.
Answer: Abraham Lincoln (also accepted: Lincoln, President Lincoln)
Abraham Lincoln led the Union from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865, days after Lee's surrender.
Answer: C) Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis, a former US senator from Mississippi, was the Confederate president. Lee was its leading general.
Answer: D) January 1, 1863
Lincoln announced it in September 1862 and it took effect on January 1, 1863, declaring enslaved people in rebelling states free.
Answer: A) It applied only to states in rebellion against the Union
It was a wartime order covering Confederate areas only. It also allowed Black men to join the Union army and navy.
Answer: 1863
The battle was fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863, in Pennsylvania.
Answer: B) It gave the Union control of the Mississippi River
Vicksburg was the last big Confederate stronghold on the river. Its fall split the Confederacy in two.
Answer: Gettysburg Address (also accepted: the Gettysburg Address)
Given in November 1863, it described the war as a test of whether a nation dedicated to equality could survive.
Answer: C) To destroy the South's supplies, railroads and will to keep fighting
Sherman's army moved from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, wrecking railroads and supplies to weaken the Confederacy.
Answer: Appomattox Court House (also accepted: Appomattox, Appomattox Courthouse)
Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Answer: 13th (also accepted: 13, 13th Amendment, Thirteenth, Thirteenth Amendment, the 13th Amendment)
The 13th Amendment was ratified in December 1865 and ended slavery throughout the United States.
It applied only to areas in rebellion against the Union. Border states loyal to the Union were not covered. Slavery ended nationally with the 13th Amendment in 1865.
Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) stopped Lee's invasion of the North. Vicksburg (Mississippi) gave the Union control of the Mississippi River. Both ended in early July 1863.
Grant led Union armies and accepted the surrender. Lee commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
The main states' right Southern leaders defended was the right to keep and spread slavery, as their own secession statements show.
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Open the student portal βSlavery, and especially the fight over whether it could expand into western territories, which led Southern states to secede after Lincoln's election in 1860.
It ended Lee's second invasion of the North, cost the Confederacy heavy losses it could not replace, and together with Vicksburg turned the war toward the Union.