the basics
The civil war was just basically based on slavery because there were run away slaves than ran to the northern states of America (because slavery wasn't happening in the northern states)and the southern states got mad because they wanted their slave back from the north but the north wouldn't give up the slaves they were hiding so then the southern states started a war to get their slaves back. The southern states become their own country for a while they were known as "The Confederate States of America". In 1860 a convention in South Carolina was were the southerns states decided to become their own country and they would all be pro-slavery states. From then on their army was named the "Confederates". The northern states were known as the "Union".
the war
The American Civil War started on Friday, April 12th, 1861. It was mainly about slaves and if it was right or wrong. I would've been on the Union because I don't think slavery good for everyone. The North and the South were fighting to see if America would be pro-slavery or anti-slavery. When Abraham Lincoln was elected, he said that this country cannot continue being half free, half slave. So Abraham Lincoln wanted America to be anti-slavery because he didn't believe that slavery was wrong and it had to be put to an end. Then the south started to invade the north to get their slaves back with force. The south controlled Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, half of Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, mostly Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Georgia. The North controlled Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nevada, California, Oregon, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The light blue highlights confirm territory that was shared so some of Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Virginia. The new territories were not really included in the war, those states were Washington, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, Utah, and Colorado. Famous leaders that thought the war were such as Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson.
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederate States of America. He was also Commander - in - Chief of the Confederate Army. He was a colonel in the United States Army during the Mexican-American War. He was Secretary of War and also a United States Senator.
Jefferson Davis was born in the South and grew up on a cotton plantation. When he was 16 years old he went to the Military Academy at West Point. The training he got at the military school helped him to become a great military leader and is one of the reasons the Confederates won so many battles at the beginning of the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States during the Civil War from 1860-1865. He was born in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809. When he was president he was also the Commander-in-Chief of the Union Army, which is the highest-ranking military officer. He appointed generals to command his troops. In 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared that all slaves in the Confederate States would be free. This helped end slavery in the United States. The same year he gave a great speech called the Gettysburg Address at a cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He wanted to honor all the soldiers who had lost their lives in the war. Many people thought he was a great president, but some people did not like his views on slavery. President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth at a theater in Washington DC. This was only five days after the South surrendered to end the Civil War.