AMERICAN CIVIL WAR TEST STUDY GUIDE
Respond to the items below on separate sheets of paper.
1. In the early 1800s, how did most people in southern states make money? What about northern states?
2. What was the most important southern crop? How did it connect northern and southern states?
3. What made slavery so terrible?
4. Prior to the Civil War, why was it important to maintain an equal number of free and slave states?
5. How did conditions experienced by slaves compare with those of northern factory workers?
6. What was the major impact of the cotton gin?
7. Describe the Missouri Compromise.
8. What is secession?
9. Describe Compromise of 1850.
10. What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively undo? What is popular sovereignty?
11. Why was the Fugitive Slave Act so controversial?
12. Why is Uncle Tom’s Cabin important to the debate about slavery?
13. What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act undo?
14. Describe Bleeding Kansas.
15. What is an abolitionst?
16. What did the Dred Scott decision say? How did this impact the debate about slavery?
17. Describe John Brown and his plan to end slavery. How did Brown’s action create further division
between North and South?
18. Which state became the first to secede?
19. What issue was at the center of the dispute that resulted in the near-fatal beating of Charles Sumner?
20. Where did the fighting of the Civil War begin?
21. What were the two sides of the Civil War?
22. What were the Border States? Why were they important?
23. What advantages could the Confederacy claim at the start of the war?
24. What advantages could the Union claim at the start of the war?
25. What was important about the First Battle of Bull Run?
26. What is important about the Battle of Gettysburg?
27. What is important about the Battle of Antietam?
28. What happened at Appomattox Courthouse, VA?
29. Who was Robert E. Lee?
30. What role did Ulysses S. Grant play in the Civil War?
31. What does the following image represent?
Documents to Review:

SC Secession documents (reasons for Southers Secession (stated versus implied))

Emancipation Proclamation (goals and effects)

Gettysburg Address (goals and effects)
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR TEST STUDY GUIDE
Respond to the items below on separate sheets of paper.
1. In the early 1800s, how did most people in southern states make money? What about northern states?
Most southerners made money in agriculture, with large-scale, slave-based agriculture being the most
important part of the economy. In the north, manufacturing was the most important part of the economy.
2. What was the most important southern crop? How did it connect northern and southern states? The most
important southern crop was cotton. It connected north and south because most northern factories
needed southern cotton to produce their finished products.
3. What made slavery so terrible? the total lack of freedom
4. Prior to the Civil War, why was it important to maintain an equal number of free and slave states? to
maintain a balance of power between free states and slave states in the US Senate: northern states had
larger populations and, therefore, more representatives in the House; the balance of power in the
Senate was important for the purposes of keeping regional tensions in check
5. How did conditions experienced by slaves compare with those of northern factory workers? the
conditions were very similar, with the very important distinction that slaves had no freedom
6. What was the major impact of the cotton gin? it made slavery hugely profitable thereby making slavery
more important to the life of the American South and leading to increased tensions over the future of
slavery
7. Describe the Missouri Compromise. Missouri became a slave state; Maine became a free state; and
drew a line making territories north of Missouri’s southern border free and south of it slave
8. What is secession? the act of leaving a group or country
9. Describe Compromise of 1850. 1) California becomes a free state; 2) The slave trade is banned in
Washington, DC; 3) Territories annexed after the Mexican War will decide for themselves if they will be
slave or free; 4) A new, strengthened Fugitive Slave Act
10. What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively undo? What is popular sovereignty? the KansasNebraska Act essentially undid the Missouri Compromise (by erasing the line it drew); popular
sovereignty is when the people in a place get to make decisions directly
11. Why was the Fugitive Slave Act so controversial? because it made it very easy to detain anyone who
might be suspected of being an escaped slave (even people who had always been free) and required all
Americans to participate in the process of apprehending fugitive slaves
12. Why is Uncle Tom’s Cabin important to the debate about slavery? for many, it turned the issue of
slavery into a moral one instead of just a political one
13. What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act undo? Kansas-Nebraska Act essentially undid the Missouri
Compromise (by erasing the line it drew);
14. Describe Bleeding Kansas. because Kansans got to decide for themselves if Kansas would be slave or
free, thousands of Americans rushed in to the territory to participate in the decision making; there were
fraudulent elections and two different territorial governments; eventually, the two sides began fighting
with each other and blood was spilled
15. What is an abolitionist? a person who wanted to get rid of (abolish) slavery
16. What did the Dred Scott decision say? How did this impact the debate about slavery? the Dred Scott
decision effectively made it unconstitutional to ban slavery anywhere in the United States; this delighted
southerners but angered northerners and added fuel to the fire of abolition
17. Describe John Brown and his plan to end slavery. How did Brown’s action create further division
between North and South? John Brown intended to seize the arms in the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA,
distribute them to local slaves, and then lead a rebellion that would destroy slavery everywhere in the
South. The rebellion was quashed and Brown was executed. Many northerners celebrated him as a hero
and martyr for abolition; southerners were appalled by his actions and by Northerners response to him.
The divisions between North and South were becoming impossible to bridge.
18. Which state became the first to secede? South Carolina
19. Where did the fighting of the Civil War begin? Fort Sumter, SC
20. What were the two sides of the Civil War? USA/Union/North vs CSA/Confederacy/South
21. What were the Border States? Why were they important? The Border States—Kentucky, Missouri,
Maryland, Delaware—were slave states that did not secede. If these states did secede, the war would be
much more difficult for the North: Kentucky and Missouri were important to controlling the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers and Maryland was to the north of Washington, DC.
22. What advantages could the Confederacy claim at the start of the war? homefield advantage, strong
military leadership, unified support for the war
23. What advantages could the Union claim at the start of the war? material advantages because of strong
manufacturing; established political system; railroads and telegraphs; population
24. What was important about the First Battle of Bull Run? the first major battle of the war it showed
everyone that the war would be long and difficult
25. What is important about the Battle of Gettysburg? it was a turning point victory for the North
26. What is important about the Battle of Antietam? The victory Lincoln needed in order to give the
Emancipation Proclamation; bloodiest singe day in American History.
27. What happened at Appomattox Courthouse, VA? Robert E. Lee surrendered his Southern forces to
Ulysses Grant, effectively ending the war in a Union victory
28. Who was Robert E. Lee? Commander-in-Chief of Southern armies during the Civil War
29. What role did Ulysses S. Grant play in the Civil War? by the end of the war, he was commander of all
Union armies
30. What does the following image represent? A Political cartoon illustrating the Anaconda Plan, 1861
SHORT ANSWERS
1. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free many slaves, but was still incredibly important to the Union
victory in the Civil War. Explain how it helped the Union win the war. The Emancipation Proclamation
made the Union’s goal for the Civil War the abolition of slavery. This gave the Union a real cause for
fighting and consolidated support around that cause. It ensured that the United Kingdom would not
support the Confederacy as the war continued. It allowed African-Americans to join the Union army,
adding a total of 200,000 men to Union forces. In almost every way, the Emancipation Proclamation
made the Union better able to fight, and win, the Civil War.