The American Civil War

"A house divided against itself cannot stand"~Abraham Lincoln

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the president of the United States of American. The southern states feared what a republican controlled government would be like. Seven southern states decided to split from the Union to start their own nation called the Confederate States guided by their president Jefferson Davis. In an attempt to keep the Union together, Abraham Lincoln lead the United States in a war. In January 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves in the Confederate states as well in the Union. The American Civil Was is still today considered to be one of the most important American wars in our history. In the end, President Abraham Lincoln paid with his life. Throughout the years of fighting, over 600,000 died. On April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln was shot while attending a play at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.

Civil War Related Links

• Biography of Abraham Lincoln
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Women of the Civil War
• The Underground Railroad
• Battles of the Civil War
• The Gettysburg Address

Other Resources

• The Drinking Gourd
• Nettie's Trip South
• Lincoln: A Photobiography

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