matter of slavery in the South

matter of slavery in the South

1. On the matter of slavery in the South, we know that the entire southern economy was based on the cotton crop.  How important was this to the southern planter and to those who owned no slaves?  What threats were growing against their continued practice of this “peculiar institution”?  How did Southerners justify the practice?

2. What decisions, political or governmental, in the half-century before Civil War, reflected the nation’s concerns over slavery?  What did the Constitution say about it?  Be sure to explain what each policy was intended to do.

3. How did the practice of popular sovereignty affect Northerners/Southerners?  Where was it used to solve a political problem?

4. Why did Southerners refer to the Civil War as a War for Southern Secession?  What changed the southern understanding of the war?

5. Who started the shooting that began the Civil War?  Where?  What was the response to it?

6. What battle was the turning point of the Civil War?  Explain why that is so.

7. Discuss the northern war strategy.  Who headed the Union Army?  How did they finally get a winning outcome?  Who claimed the last victory?

8. What was the Reconstruction plan after the war was over?  What did it consist of?  Did it work in the south’s recovery?

9. What strategies did the South use to try and recover their influence over the newly freed slaves?  How did President Lincoln guarantee the abolition of slavery?