1. Social Studies
Chapter 8 – The Civil War
Test Date: Thursday, Jan. 15th
Parent Signature Due: Wed., Jan. 7th
2. Chapter 8
Vocabulary
• 1. abolitionist – someone who wants to end
slavery
• 2. secede – to withdraw from an organization or
a country
• 3. Union – the United States of America, often in
reference to the Northern states during the Civil
War
• 4. Confederacy – the eleven Southern States that
seceded from the Union during the Civil War; also
called the Confederate States of America
3. • 5. Emancipation Proclamation – an order
issued by U.S. president Abraham Lincoln on
January 1, 1863; it announced that the
enslaved people in the rebelling Confederate
states were free
• 6. amendment – a change to a government
process or document
4. The Civil War p. 147
• Slavery caused a major division between Northerners and Southerners.
War broke out when Southern states left the Union.
• On July 4, 1858, a 32nd star was added to the American flag to represent
MN. However, war was looming.
• The North and the South were similar in many ways, but also very
different. For one thing, their economies were different.
– The North – big cities, big factories, and farms
– The South – fewer big cities, fewer factories, and fewer railroad tracks; the
population was growing more slowly; the three big crops were sugar,
tobacco, and especially cotton
• The major difference was slavery. Although at one time, people in both
the North and the South owned slaves, more and more, the Northerners
began to think that slavery was morally wrong. The African American
population grew dramatically in the years leading up to the Civil War –
especially in the South. Southerners believed slavery was necessary.
5. Dred and Harriet Scott p. 149
• Dred Scott and Harriet Robinson were enslaved people brought to Ft.
Snelling, MN by their owners. They married in 1836. Ft. Snelling was in
free territory.
• Their white owner took Dred and Harriet Scott back to MO (a slave state). In
1846, the Scotts sued for freedom claiming that because they had lived in a
free state, they were free.
• In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that African Americans were not
citizens and had no rights under the Constitution; they were property;
Congress could not prevent slavery from expanding.
• That same year, the Scotts owners freed them. Dred Scott died in 1858.
• The Dred Scott decision was an important factor in the coming of the Civil
War.
6. Land of the Free? p. 149
• In 1776, even though the Declaration of Independence
said “all men are created equal,” this did not include
African Americans.
• The U.S. Constitution made slavery legal.
• But MA, NH, PA passed laws making slavery illegal and
newer Northern states (MN, IA, WI) made slavery
illegal from the start. Even though slavery was never
legal in MN, MN benefitted economically from slave
labor.
• Many Southerners believed slavery was essential to
their way of life.
• There were differences of opinion as to whether
slavery should be allowed in the new states that were
being formed in the West, but most Northerners were
against it.
7. A Moral Dilemma
• Slavery - making money vs. treating people fairly
• Minnesotans differed in their feelings about slavery.
• Slavery was illegal in MN. Abolitionists in MN (like Emily and Ralph
Grey) worked against slavery and helped visiting slave, Eliza
Winston gain her freedom. Many approved of this action.
• On the other hand, the economics of slavery meant that MN
benefitted from slave labor. MN businesses profited from
vacationing Southerners who often brought along their slaves.
Business owners didn’t like the judge’s decision in the Eliza Winston
case because they thought it would cause them to lose business.
8. Freedom for Eliza Winston pp. 152-153
• Wealthy Southerners took steamboats up the
Mississippi River on the Fashionable Tour.
• In 1860, Richard and Mary Christmas (rich Mississippi
plantation owners) came to St. Anthony, MN (near St.
Paul) on a trip with their baby and slave, Eliza Winston.
• A free African American couple (Emily and Ralph Grey –
who were friends of abolitionist, Frederick Douglass)
convinced a MN judge to hear Eliza Winston’s case.
Judge Charles Vanderburgh freed her.
• Business people were upset. Abolitionists were happy.
9. Home of the Brave p. 154
• In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected
president.
• As a result, Southern states seceded and
formed their own country – the Confederate
States of America.
• On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on
U.S. troops stationed at Fort Sumter in SC.
This was the start of the Civil War.
• A volunteer regiment of 1,009 men came from
MN. They trained at Ft. Snelling.
10. Charley Goddard Goes to War p. 155
• Charley (from Winona) was only 15, but lied about his age and
volunteered as a member of the First MN Regiment which left Ft.
Snelling for Washington, D.C. on June 22, 1861. Charley had just
turned 16.
• Charley was sick and missed the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21,
1861. The First MN suffered more losses than any other Union
regiment in this battle.
• When he was 17, Charley fought in Antietam Creek, MD on
September 17, 1862 – the bloodiest day in the nation’s history –
26,000 men were killed or wounded.
• When he was 18, Charley fought and was injured in the Battle of
Gettysburg from July 1-3, 1863.
• Many of Charley’s friends were killed or injured.
• He wrote and received letters and packages from his mother during
the course of the war.
• The First Minnesota was one of 22 MN units that served during the
four years of the Civil War.
11. Land of the Free p. 159
• To most Minnesotans, the war began as a fight to
preserve the Union. But when Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, freeing
the slaves, (two years after the start of the Civil War)
the fight also became one to free people who were
enslaved and to end slavery throughout the country.
• Minnesotans at home supported the soldiers by
sending supplies, raising money for families of fallen
soldiers, providing companionship to families of
soldiers, helping families run the farms while the men
were away at war.
12. Journey to Freedom p. 159
• Robert Hickman was one of the first enslaved
people to come to MN. He had been born a
slave in 1831 in MO. He was unusual because
he had learned to read and write. He was a
preacher.
• He led a group of 300 African American
“pilgrims” who came by steamboat to St. Paul
in May 1863.
• They established St. Paul’s first African
American congregation – Pilgrim Baptist
Church.
13. The War Ends p. 161
• The North defeated the South in 1865. More
than 600,000 soldiers and countless civilians had
lost their lives and the South was in ruins.
• MN escaped much of the ravages of war. The
economy was good. Prices for farm products had
gone up. Wheat production doubled. Immigrants
continued to move in. But families had been
broken, soldiers had lost their lives or were
permanently crippled. Life had been especially
difficult for farm families when men had gone off
to war. Minnesotans learned they were
connected to the rest of the US citizens.
14. The Reconstruction Amendments
p. 160
• MN – slavery outlawed when MN became a state in 1858
• MN – 1868 – MN Constitution amended to give African American
men the right to vote
• US – 13th Amendment (1865) outlawed slavery
• US – 14th Amendment (1868) citizenship to all born in US –
regardless of race
• US – 15th Amendment (1870) African American men given right to
vote
• (The US Constitution did not give women the right to vote until
1920)
• Last Union Soldier – Albert Woolson – Duluth, MN – died at age
109; was a Union army drummer boy
