Different developments in the North and South

On paper, the Union outweighed the Confederacy in almost every way. Nearly 21 million people lived in 23 Northern states. The South claimed just 9 million people — including 3.5 million slaves — in 11 confederate states. Despite the North’s greater population, however, the South had an army almost equal in size during the first year of the war.

The North had an enormous industrial advantage as well. At the beginning of the war, the Confederacy had only one-ninth the industrial capacity of the Union. But that statistic was misleading. In 1860, the North manufactured 97 percent of the country’s firearms, 96 percent of its railroad locomotives, 94 percent of its cloth, 93 percent of its pig iron, and over 90 percent of its boots and shoes. The North had twice the density of railroads per square mile. The South was at a severe disadvantage when it came to manufacturing, but the Confederacy managed to keep its guns firing by creating ammunition from melted-down bells from churches and town squares.All the principal ingredients of gunpowder were imported. Since the North controlled the navy, the seas were in the hands of the Union. A blockade could suffocate the South. Still, the Confederacy was not without resources and willpower. The South could produce all the food it needed, though transporting it to soldiers and civilians was a major problem. The South also had a great nucleus of trained officers. Seven of the eight military colleges in the country were in the South. The South’s greatest strength lay in the fact that it was fighting on the defensive in its own territory. Familiar with the landscape, Southerners could harass Northern invaders. The military and political objectives of the Union were much more difficult to accomplish. The Union had to invade, conquer, and occupy the South. It had to destroy the South’s capacity and will to resist, a formidable challenge in any war.

Abolitionist movement

The Abolitionist movement in the United States of America was an effort to end slavery in a nation that valued personal freedom and believed “all men are created equal.” Over time, abolitionists grew more strident in their demands, and slave owners entrenched in response, fueling regional divisiveness that ultimately led to the American Civil War. In the 18th century, rationalist thinkers of the Enlightenment criticized slavery for violating human rights. A member of the British Parliament, James Edward Oglethorpe, was among the first to articulate the Enlightenment case against slavery. Founder of the Province of Georgia, Oglethorpe banned slavery on humanistic grounds. He argued against it in Parliament and eventually encouraged his friends Granville Sharp and Hannah More to vigorously pursue the cause.

Missouri compromise

The Missouri Compromise was a United States federal statute devised by Henry Clay. It regulated slavery in the country’s western territories by prohibiting the practice in the former Louisiana Territory north of the 36°30′ parallel, except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. The compromise was agreed to by both the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress and passed as a law in 1820, under the presidency of James Monroe. The reason for the compromise was to keep the balance between the states which advocated slavery and those which did not, as a new state, which was to join the United States, would have tipped the scales too much (there was tension between different on the basis of differing views regarding the subject of slavery).

Fugitive Slave Act


Underground Railroad


Dred Scott case

In March 1857, in one of the most controversial events preceding the American Civil War (1861-65), the US Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford. The case had been brought before the court by Dred Scott, a slave who had lived with his owner in a free state before returning to the slave state of Missouri. Scott argued that his time spent in these locations entitled him to emancipation. In his decision, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a staunch supporter of slavery, disagreed: The court found that no black, free or slave, could claim US citizenship, and therefore blacks were unable to petition the court for their freedom. The Dred Scott decision incensed abolitionists and heightened North-South tensions, which would erupt in war just three years later.

Formation of Confederacy

Formed in February 1861, the Confederate States of America was a republic composed of eleven Southern states that seceded from the Union in order to preserve slavery, states’ rights, and political liberty for whites. Its conservative government, with Mississippian Jefferson Davis as president, sought a peaceful separation, but the United States refused to acquiesce in the secession. The war that ensued started at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861, and lasted four years. It cost the South nearly 500,000 men killed or wounded out of a population of 9 million (including 3 million slaves) and $5 billion in treasure.

Causes of the Civil War (1861-1865)

Slavery, the Dred Scott Decision, states’ rights (struggle between the states and the federal government over power), the Underground Railroad.

Developments and outcome of the war


Emancipation Proclamation


Visual piece,_by_the_Supervisory_Committee_For_Recruiting_Colored_Regiments.jpg

This visual piece is a USCT (United States Colored Troops) recruitment poster. The USCT consisted of 178 regiments or 178 000 men, making up around 10 percent of the Union army. The unit was active from spring, 1863 to autumn, 1885. Many soldiers of the USCT fought vigorously and fearlessly, being a great example to the white troops who had thought of them as nothing more than slaves. In total 15 USCT soldiers even received the Medal of Honor. However, partly because of their boldness, the casualties in the USCT where 20 percent, which was 35 percent higher than that for White union troops (around 15 percent). All in all I think this recruitment poster is the perfect visual piece for this movie, because the movie also talks about a colored unit in the Union army and very well depicts the bravery of the colored troops in the fighting there and respects their sacrifice.

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