Study Guide – Causes of the Civil War
1. What are primary sources?
Primary sources are sources created by people who actually saw or
participated in an event and recorded that event or their reactions to it
immediately after the event.
2. What are examples of primary sources?
Primary sources include actual records that have survived from the past such
as diaries, letters, photographs, and artifacts (example: arrowhead, piece of
pottery, coin).
3. What are secondary sources?
Secondary sources are accounts of the past created by people writing about
events sometime after they happened.
4. What are examples of secondary sources?
Secondary sources include history textbooks, biographies, book reports, and
most written information about an event or person that you find on the
Internet.
5. What do we mean by economy?
Economy refers to the main way in which a whole region makes money.
6. What kind of economy did the northern states have in the years just
before the Civil War?
They had an industrial economy. This means that most of the people in the
North had jobs in factories making products to sell.
7. What kind of economy did the southern states have in the years just
before the Civil War?
They had an agricultural economy. This means that most of the people in
the South had jobs on farms growing crops to sell.
8. What do we mean by labor?
Labor means “work.”
9. What was a big difference between the industrial economy of the North
and the agricultural economy of the South?
The agricultural economy of the South depended on slave labor. The
industrial economy of the North did not depend on slave labor.
10. What was a free state and where were free states located?
A free state was a state in which slavery was not allowed. Most of the free
states were in the North, but a couple of them were in the Far West.
11. What was a slave state and where were slave states located?
A slave state was a state in which slavery was allowed. The slave states
were located in the South.
12. There was a big disagreement between the North and the South about
what to do with western territories wanting to become new states. What was
the disagreement?
The North wanted the new states to be free states, and the South wanted the
new states to be slave states.
13. What does secede mean?
Secede means to withdraw or break away from something and not be a
part of it anymore.
14. What is an abolitionist?
An abolitionist is someone who works to end slavery.
15. Who was Nat Turner?
Nat Turner was a slave who led a revolt against plantation owners in
Virginia. Even though he was caught, tried, and executed, his revolt caused
southern planters to fear that their slaves might rebel also.
16. Who was John Brown?
John Brown was a white abolitionist who led a raid on the U.S. Armory
(place where all the weapons are kept) at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He was
trying to start a slave rebellion. He was captured, tried, and hanged.
17. What was another name for the northern states?
The northern states were called the Union.
18. What did the southern states call themselves?
They called themselves the Confederate States of America.
19. How did some southern states react when Abraham Lincoln became the
President of the United States?
They seceded (withdrew) from the Union.
20. Why did some southern states secede from the Union after Lincoln
became President of the United States?
They thought he would force them to give up their slaves and change the
southern way of life.
21. What were 5 major causes of the Civil War?
A. Nat Turner’s rebellion. His revolt caused widespread panic and fear
among the Southerners. It also caused people everywhere to talk
more about slavery. (1831)
B. Abolitionists protested against slavery. Southerners felt threatened
by the efforts of northern abolitionists to end slavery because without
slaves, the southern agricultural economy would be ruined.
C. John Brown’s raid. John Brown was a hero to northern abolitionists.
The Southerners thought John Brown was a bad man who had planned
to free all the southern farmers’ slaves. (1859)
D. California became a free state. Up until California joined the
Union, there were 11 slave states and 11 free states. By becoming
a free state, California upset this balance. So then there were 12
free states and only 11 slave states. This made the Southerners
angry. (1850)
E. The election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. President. The
Northerners were happy about this but not the Southerners. The
southern farmers feared that Lincoln would make them give up their
slaves. (1860)
22. How did eastern and western Virginians feel about slavery?
Eastern Virginians had huge plantations and depended on slaves to work
the fields and help the planters become rich. Western Virginians had very
small parcels (pieces) of land and did not need slaves. They felt it was
wrong to own another human being.
23. What happened as a result of the eastern Virginians’ and western
Virginians’ disagreement over slavery?
Many of the western counties of Virginia split with eastern Virginia and
formed a separate state called West Virginia. (1863)
24. Who was Harriet Tubman?
She was a slave who helped hundreds of slaves escape to the north.
25. What was the Underground Railroad?
The Underground Railroad was not a railroad. It was the name given to a
secret route taken by slaves to escape to the North. There were many
secret hideouts along this route where fleeing slaves would receive meals, a
place to sleep, and more directions.
26. Why was it so difficult for the state of Virginia to decide whether or not
to secede from the Union?
On the one hand, Virginia felt loyalty to the nation it had worked so hard
to create. On the other hand, it felt a common bond with its southern
neighbors (Example: They all had an agricultural economy, and they all
were slave states.). In the end, Virginia felt it could never go to war with
another southern state. So, on April 17, 1861, Virginia seceded from the
Union.