Mrs. Ruland's Advanced Placement United States History Class

Unit 6 Study Guide

Unit 6 — Emerginig Disunion and Civil War, 1845-1865

Facts to Know

Chapter 14 — Slavery and America's Future: The Road to War, 1845-1861

1. President Polk's expansionist objectives, and the manner in which these objectives were achieved.
2. The dissension and fears that emerged as a result of the Mexican War, and the political, social, and economic consequences of the war.
3. The issues and personalities and the outcome of the 1848 presidential election.
4. The sectional disputes that led to the Compromise of 1850, and the provisions of the Compromise.
5. The re-emergence of sectional tension between 1850 and 1854, dealing specifically with:
   a. the Fugitive Slave Act
   b. Uncle Tom's Cabin
   c. the Underground Railroad
   d. the election of Franklin Pierce
6. The issues and personalities and the outcome of the 1852 presidential election.
7. The introduction of and debate over the Kansas-Nebraska bill; the bill's provisions; and the consequences of its enactment into law.
8. The realignment of political affiliations and political parties in the United States during the 1850s
9. The political, social, and economic philosophy of the Republican party, the reasons for its appeal among northern voters, and the forces that led to the party's success in the 1860 election.
10. The issues and personalities and explain the outcome of the 1856 presidential election.
11. The Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford, and the impact of the decision on the political parties and their leaders and on northern and southern public opinion.
12. The issues and personalities and the outcome of the 1860 presidential election.
13. The failure of attempts at compromise after the 1860 election, and explain the success of the secession
    movement in seven southern states between December 1860 and March 1861.
    

Chapter 15 — Transforming Fire: The Civil War, 1861-1865

1. The strategy of the combatants during the first two years of the Civil War; their strengths and weaknesses; and the relative position of each in early 1863.
2. The social, political, and economic impact of the Civil War on the South, its values, and its people.
3. The social, political, and economic impact of the Civil War on the North, its values, and its people.
4. The strengths and weaknesses of the North and the South, and the factors that led to northern victory and southern defeat.
5. Abraham Lincoln's and Congress's approach to the slavery question during the course of the Civil War; their decisions on this issue; and the impact of those decisions on the Union and its war effort.
6. Jefferson Davis's and the Confederate Congress's approach to the slavery question, their decisions on this issue, and the impact of those decisions on the Confederacy and its war effort.
7. The impact of military life and wartime experiences on Confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War.
8. Grant's strategy in the final years of the Civil War, and the battles that enabled him to achieve northern victory.
9. The emergence of dissent and disorder in the Confederacy and the Union in the final two years of the Civil War, and the impact of these forces on the two combatants.
10. The efforts of both North and South to achieve their diplomatic objectives, and the outcome of those efforts.
11. The financial and human costs of the Civil War, and what issues were resolved and what issues were left unresolved at war's end.
    

Quizzes

• Textbook Quiz — chapter 14     chapter 15  
• Mrs. Pojer's Quizzes
  • The Antebellum South  A   B  
  • The Growing National Crisis: The 1850s A    B   
  • The Civil War  A    B   

Documents

• Black Potential and the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853)
• South Carolina Defines the Causes of Secession (1860)
• Confederate Dead at Gettysburg (1863)
• Thomas Wentworth Higginson Assesses the Black Soldier (1870)

Study Aids

• Mrs. Ruland's Notes
  • Emerging Disunion
  • Emerging Disunion 2
  • Lincoln: The Man of Our Redemption
  • Lincoln Frees the Slaves
• From Revolution to Reconstruction - An Outline of American History
  • Chapter Six: Sectional Conflict
• Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Modules on Major Topics
  • The Coming of the Civil War
  • TheCivil War
• Digital History
  • Guided Readings
    • Pre-Civil War Reform
    • Antislavery
    • Pre-Civil War South
    • The Impending Crisis
    • The Civil War
  • Explorations
    • Learn About the Coming of the Civil War
    • Learn About the Civil War
  • A Chronology of Anti-Slavery
  • Sectional Conflict
  • Secession and the Civil War
  • Civil War
• George Burson, Aspen CO
  • The Civil War and Reconstruction
• Academic American History, Henry J. Sage, Northern Virginia Community College
  • Expansion and the Civil War, 1840-1865
• Mr. Feldmeth - Polytechnic School, Pasadena CA
  • The Peculiar Institution of American Slavery - outline
  • 1850s: Decade of Controversy - outline
  • Significant Antebellum Events - chart
  • Secession and Civil War - outline
  • Key Events and Battles of the Civil War - chart
• Timeline- 1851 to 1900 (Mr. Wood, Murray HS, Murray UT)
• Presidential Election Data (David Leip) — 1848    1852    1856    1860    1864     
• Cram Sheet (Renata Melamud)
  • John Quincy Adams through Pierce
  • Buchanan through Andrew Johnson
• "Now We Are Engaged in a Great Civil War" 1848-1880 (Crossroads)
• Divining America: Religion and the National Culture
  • African American Religion in the Nineteenth Century
  • American Abolitionism and Religion
  • Civil War: The Southern Perspective
  • Religion in the Civil War: The Northern Side

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Last updated July 14, 2009

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