Chapter 14: A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, 1861–1865
Potential Essay Questions
1. What did the Union soldiers believe they were fighting for? What did the Confederate
soldiers believe they were fighting for?
2. What was the basic premise of the South’s government? What advantages did the
South have, and why did they think victory would be theirs?
3. Describe Lincoln’s leadership abilities. How important were they for victory?
Compare Lincoln to the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis.
4. How did the war affect the economies of the North and of the South?
5. What strategy did General Grant adopt for a Union victory? Be sure to fully discuss
why it was criticized and why it was destined to defeat the South.
6. Abraham Lincoln did not call on 700,000 troops in 1861 to suppress the Confederate
rebellion thinking that the nation was going to plunge into a total war. Describe the
changes in Lincoln’s thinking that led to a total war that was being fought for high ideals.
How did it move from quelling an insurrection to being a total war that redefined the
meanings of freedom and liberty?
7. Using Lincoln’s speech at Sanitary Fair in 1864 excerpted in Voices of Freedom,
explain how Lincoln defined liberty. How does this speech reflect a change in his
thinking from 1861? Why do you think Lincoln had to change his thinking in order to
achieve victory in this war?
8. Blacks eagerly signed up for service in the army and navy after the Emancipation
Proclamation was issued. Describe the life of a black soldier. How did it differ from the
experiences of black sailors? Overall, how important were black servicemen in the
outcome of the war? Finally, discuss what fighting in the war meant to these men.
9. Frederick Douglass declared, “The work does not end with the abolition of slavery, but
only begins.” In a thoughtful essay discuss what you foresee as the work that will need to
be done to secure freedom and liberty to the ex-slaves. Is emancipation enough? Why or
why not?
10. Lincoln observed in 1864 that “we all declare for liberty but in using the same word
we do not all mean the same thing.” He continued to explain what the North meant and
what the South meant, and how victory meant a national norm as defined by the North.
Illustrate how liberty would come to be understood for the nation after the Civil War and
analyze whether the abolishment of slavery was enough to propel the United States to
finally exist as its founding documents suggested it should.