The American Civil War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le4waed7wi8
Video: play up to 13:58
You are given a sheet of alternative names given to the American Civil War by various contemporary
commentators, and historians. They reveal surprisingly partisan notions about the war’s origins and who
should carry the blame.
1. Arrange the various alternative names given for the civil war under the headings given on your table
sheet.
2. Now split the titles placed in the left & right columns into positive (top) and negative (bottom) titles.
ie under the left-hand column place those titles that suggest proactive reasons for the North going to
war at the top and those suggesting defensive concerns at the bottom.
3. Which of the titles given to the civil war contain suggestions as to its cause/s?
[States’ rights, slavery, preservation of the Union, rebellion, nationality, the Constitution]
4. What might the greater number of titles given to the civil war by Southern States tell us about the
conflict?
[Sense of injustice, feeling of being threatened, proactive cause, defensiveness]
5. What else it is possible to tell about the Civil War from these proposed titles?
[Names of two sides, bitterness, date, existence of slavery]
Names given to the Civil
War by Northern States
Neutral Titles
Names given to the Civil
War by Southern States
The War for States' Rights
The War for Constitutional Liberty
The War for the Union
+
The War for Southern Independence
The War for Abolition
The Lost Cause
The War Against Slavery
The War of the North and South
The War of the Sixties
The Brothers' War
The Confederate War
The War of the Southern Planters
-
The Southern Rebellion
The War of the Rebellion
War of Attempted Secession
The Civil War Between the States
+
The War for Southern Nationality
The War for Separation
The War Against Northern Aggression
War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance
Mr. Lincoln's War
The Yankee Invasion
The War Against the States
The Second American Revolution
-