The Road to the Civil War

The Road to the Civil War

This is the story of America dividing along north/south lines, as slave states and free states become more and more hostile to one another. Expansion into the new territories acquired in the previous chapter, and the desire to connect the east to the west, increase the already-there tensions until, after the election of Lincoln, southern states break away to form their own country, the Confederate States of America. When Lincoln refuses to allow that to happen, war breaks out between the Union and the Confederacy.

Reading:

• Outline: Chapter 6
• Johnson: Part 3, “The Ideology of the North-South Battle”; Part 4, the first 6 sections (through “Jefferson Davis…”)
• Zinn: Chapter 9, until the War starts

Questions (for each, note what each author has to say):

1. What is the California Crisis, and what are the consequences?
2. What is the Kansas Crisis, and what are the consequences?
3. Why does the South leave/fight? Why does the North fight?