Embedded Files
Economic Balance :
Complete the chart, For each category, indicate which side—North or South—seemed to possess the advantage, and explain why. Use specific evidence from the map and chart to back up your claims.
Military Balance:
The interactive “Meet the Army Commanders!” website provides information about the top-ranking field commanders in the Confederate and Union armies during the first year of the Civil War. As you study the information, answer the questions that follow, citing specific evidence for your answers.
You will also look at speeches made by both presidents at the time, Abraham Lincoln of the Union and Jefferson Davis of the Confederate. You will be looking at the reasons/goal of the war and deciding who has a more just cause.
Diplomatic Balance:
The two maps below, show the United States in the mid-1800s when the tensions over slavery reached a breaking point.
The Constitution requires that the House and Senate agree on new laws. Southerners believe that as long as the Senate remained balanced, Congress could not pass laws to affect slavery. Then, in 1849, California asked to become part of the Union. California's however banned slavery. Admitting California as a free state, many Southerners warned, would upset the equal balance between slave states and free states- making the slave states the minority.
This map shows the free and slaves states. In the 1850s the states were not equal in the number of Representatives that were sent to the government to be part of the House of Representatives. These numbers are based on the states population. Since the North had a more industrial cities, their population and therefor their representation in the government was much higher than the south. This means the North had a bigger say in what laws were passed.
This map shows what states allowed slavery along with the year they were admitted to the Union. You will notice that there is an equal amount of slave and free states. This ensured that all states had an equal number of US senators representing in the government.
Comparing the Constitutions
US Constitution
The Preamble, 1787:
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article I, Section 9:
(1) The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importations, not exceeding 10 dollars for each person.
Confederate Constitution
The Preamble, 1861:
We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Confederate States of America.
Article I, Section 9:
(1) The importation of negroes of the African race from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same....
Report abuse