| A | B |
|---|
| The secession of seven states of the Deep South | The Confederate States of America is founded in February 1861 and Jefferson Davis is named its president |
| Fort Sumter and Lincoln calling for 75,000 troops to suppress the rebellion | The Upper South states of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee |
| Lincoln wanting to make sure the Union does not look like the aggressor in starting the war | The Confederates are informed Fort Sumter will be resupplied with provisions only, not reinforcements or arms |
| Lincoln fears the Border States of Delaware, Missouri, Maryland, and Kentucky will secede and join the Confederacy | Martial law is declared, the writ of habeas corpus is suspended, and key secessionists are imprisoned |
| The Anaconda Plan | The North's advantages are utilized and the South is worn down in a war of attrition by imposing a blockade and conquering the South's major rivers |
| Southern cotton did not prove to be as critical to Britain and France as believed, the surprising importance of Northern grain, skillful Union diplomats, and the fact the war becomes about slavery | "King Cotton Diplomacy" failed and Britain and France does not side with the Confederacy |
| The Trent Affair | Probably the closest the British came to siding with the Confederacy |
| Lincoln wants to make the war about slavery, trying to undermine the Confederate war effort without alienating the Border States | The Emancipation Proclamation was issued and worded to free only slaves in Confederate-controlled areas |
| The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in 1865 | Slavery was abolished throughout the entire United States |
| On both sides one could avoid the draft by hiring a substitute, the South's "twenty nigger" law | The idea that the Civil War was a "rich man's war but a poor man's fight" is prevalent on both sides |
| Irish and working class resentment against the draft | The New York City Draft Riots in July 1863 |
| The Confederate government's decision to keep taxes low and print off lots of paper money | Inflation spiraled out-of-control in the South |
| The Civil War's impact on the North and South's respective economies | The Southern economy is set back for decades while the North's is invigorated |
| The Civil War's impact on women | Women assume traditional male roles and experienced hardships, especially in the South |
| Strong states' rights in the Confederacy | The Confederate nation was unable to create a strong nationalism |
| Republican control of Congress during the Civil War | Several significant acts are passed that expanded the role of the federal government that would have a long-lasting impact after the Civil War |
| Sherman's victory at Atlanta | Lincoln gained enough momentum to defeat George McClellan in the Election of 1864 |
| Improved technology and outdated military tactics | Unusually high casualty rates in Civil War battles |
| Unsanitary camps, lack of hygiene in hospitals and surgery, and a fundamental lack of understanding of germs | Disease was the number one killer during the Civil War |
| The battle between the Monitor and Merrimack | Ushered in the age of ironclad ships and ended the era of wooden ships |
| Lee's invasion of Maryland to secure a major victory and attempt to bring Maryland into the Confederacy | The Battle of Antietam |
| The Union victory at Antietam | Failed to destroy Lee's Army but was enough of a victory for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation |
| The Battle of Gettysburg | Lee's Army of Northern Virginia never was able to invade the North again and was arguably the turning point of the war |
| The Battle of Vicksburg | The Union won permanent control of the Mississippi River fulfilling 1/2 of the Anaconda Plan |
| Grant takes command of the Army of the Potomac in 1864 | The battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and Cold Harbor are very bloody and Lee's army is worn down in a war of attrition |
| Grant and Sherman realizing the Union must break the will of the Southern people and destroy their capacity to wage war | Union strategy changes and Sherman's 60-miled wide path of destruction through Georgia |
| Appomattox | Lee's Army of Northern Virginia surrenders, essentially ending the Civil War |
| The Civil War's impact on the South | The South is severely defeated with a large percentage of its young men killed or wounded and widespread destruction; but will later be glorified as the Lost Cause |
