Why did the Union defeat the Confederacy in the American Civil War?
1860
Data Scavenger Hunt
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above:
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States fought between the Union and the Confederacy. What percent of all Americans lived in the Union in 1860?
The American Civil War began when the Confederates bombarded Union soldiers at Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861. From what year is the data from the visual above?
What percent of merchant ships were in the Confederacy?
In how many different types of resources did the Union have an advantage over the Confederacy?
In which type of resource did the Union have the biggest advantage over the Confederacy?
Big Brain Questions
Answer these questions by using your brain and any links below:
Which of the types of resources listed in the chart above do you think was the most important or valuable commodity?
Slavery lay at the root of the political crisis that produced the Civil War. The economics of slavery and political control of that system was central to the conflict. The Confederacy started the war. If you were as outnumbered, out manned, and outgunned as the Confederacy, why on earth would you fight a much stronger rival?
The North had a larger population than the South. The Union also had an industrial economy, whereas the Confederacy had an economy based on agriculture. The Union had most of the natural resources, like coal, iron, and gold, and also a well-developed rail system. Explain why the Union won the war.
There are two types of war: 1)Intrastate war (civil wars within a country such as the U.S> Civil War) and 2)Interstate wars (external wars between two or more countries such as World War II and the current war between Russia and Ukraine). We are living in an age of civil war. Civil wars were almost nonexistent until the twentieth century. Except in a handful of cases—the American and English civil wars, the French Revolution—it was rare for citizens to mobilize soldiers to fight for control over their government. This changed after World War II. Since 1946, more than 250 civil wars have broken out around the world, and their numbers continue to increase. There are now almost 50 percent more civil wars than there were in 2001. Today, civil wars are being fought in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Mali, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, and elsewhere. In India and Malaysia, smaller intrastate conflicts have the potential to develop into something much worse. Even countries we thought could never experience another civil war—such as the United States and the United Kingdom—are showing signs of unrest. We are, it turns out, living in the age of civil war. Why are there more civil wars than wars between nations.
Explain the likelihood of another American Civil War.
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Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
Contact President Biden and share with him your thoughts about three things he could do to prevent another American Civil War.
Get Creative
Based on the data from the visual above, describe a sporting event, or a battle of celebrities that would be as lopsided in terms of relative power as that between the Union and the Confederacy.
