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Unlock This CourseThe war ended in April 1865 when General Lee surrendered to General Grant. Historians do not give one simple reason for the Union victory. Instead they ask which reasons mattered most, and that is exactly what a 16-mark question asks you to do. Weighing reasons is a skill, so this lesson pulls the earlier ones together rather than telling the story again.
Key terms:
In 1861 the Union had about 22 million people and the Confederacy about 9 million, including 3.5 million enslaved people. The North also had most of the country's factories and railways. It could make weapons, move troops and feed its armies. The South had to buy much of what it needed from abroad.
The Union navy closed off most of the Southern coast. Some ships still slipped through, but fewer and fewer. Cotton, the South's main export, could not be sold in the usual amounts, so the South earned less and prices of goods rose.
Lee won famous battles, but his army could not replace its losses. At Gettysburg and Vicksburg in 1863 the Union gained the upper hand. Grant then kept up the pressure on Lee in Virginia while Sherman took Atlanta and marched through Georgia.
Lincoln kept the North united and was re-elected in November 1864. The Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery a war aim and brought about 180,000 black soldiers into the Union army. Davis struggled because some state governors, such as Joseph Brown of Georgia, put their own state first.
The fifth reason was the collapse of the Southern economy. By 1864 Confederate money had lost much of its value, there were shortages of food and clothing, and railways were wearing out. Sherman's march destroyed more. Soldiers' families were hungry, men deserted, and the will to fight weakened.
A good historian does not just list reasons. They choose a criterion and test each reason against it.
The blockade made the South poorer but did not win the war alone, because ships still got through. Emancipation added soldiers and a moral aim, but battles still had to be won. A balanced judgement: Northern resources made victory possible, but they had to be used well. Leadership, the blockade and emancipation turned the advantage into a win.
Section B asks about change over a long period, so link this lesson to the themes of the whole option. Two themes run from 1820 to 1865: slavery and the relationship of the separate states to the whole.
1820: the Missouri Compromise tried to balance free and slave states. 1850: the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act. 1854-57: Kansas-Nebraska, Bleeding Kansas and the Dred Scott decision. 1860-61: Lincoln's election and secession. 1863: the Emancipation Proclamation. When the 13th Amendment was ratified in December 1865, slavery ended across the whole USA.
1832: South Carolina challenged the national tariff. 1860-61: eleven states left the Union and formed the Confederacy. 1861-65: the Union fought to bring them back. The Confederacy then had its own states' rights problems, as with Governor Brown. The Union victory settled that no state could leave.
Change: slavery went from being balanced by compromise to being abolished. Continuity: in every period, disputes about slavery were also disputes about how much power the states had.
How significant was the issue of slavery in the relationship between the North and the South in the years 1820-65? [16 marks]
You may use the following in your answer:
You must also use information of your own.
Slavery was the most significant issue in the relationship between North and South, although it was not the only one.
In 1820 slavery already threatened the nation. Missouri wanted to join as a slave state, which would upset the balance of 11 free and 11 slave states. The Missouri Compromise admitted Maine as a free state and drew the 36°30′ line, which held the Union together for a time. Even so, Jefferson called the crisis a "fire bell in the night", showing how deep the issue ran.
After 1850 slavery pushed the two sides further apart. The Fugitive Slave Act made Northerners help to catch runaways. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 cancelled the 36°30′ line and led to Bleeding Kansas. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 said Congress could not ban slavery in the territories. The Kansas-Nebraska Act helped to create the Republican Party in 1854, which opposed slavery spreading, and the Dred Scott decision of 1857 hardened feeling further. After Lincoln's election in 1860, seven states left the Union before he even took office, and four more joined them once the fighting began.
However, other issues mattered too. The North had factories and free labour, while the South relied on cotton grown by enslaved people. States' rights was another issue: South Carolina challenged the tariff in 1832 when slavery was not the main dispute. Yet the South's economy and its claim to states' rights were closely tied to slavery, because the right it wanted most to protect was the right to keep enslaved people. The eleven states that left the Union did so over this issue, not over the tariff.
Slavery also changed the war itself. In 1861 Lincoln fought to save the Union, but the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 made ending slavery a war aim and let black men join the Union army. The 13th Amendment, ratified in December 1865, ended slavery across the USA.
Judged by which issue caused the most crises and was settled last, slavery was the most significant, because the compromises of 1820 and 1850 were attempts to manage it and the war ended in its abolition. States' rights and the economy mattered, but when each is tested against this criterion they come second, because both were mainly arguments about slavery. That is why slavery was the most significant issue.
What lifts this to the top level: it covers the whole period 1820-65, uses facts beyond the two bullets, weighs other issues, and ends with a judgement against a stated criterion.
Use the two bullets as a start only. An answer built only on them cannot reach the top level, so add a third aspect from your own knowledge, such as the Dred Scott decision, and finish with a judgement that names your criterion.