Causes of the American Civil War

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/causes-of-the-american-civil-war

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the date range of conflict?April 12, 1861 – May 9, 1865
2. What was the main reason the United States fought the Civil War?The main reason was slavery. The South relied on enslaved labor for its cotton economy, while the North opposed slavery as a moral wrong.
3. Why did the South want to keep slavery?The South saw slavery as essential to its economy and identity. It protected their social order and way of life.

Antebellum Period: The period in American history before the Civil War, characterized by significant sectional divisions.
Popular Sovereignty: The principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people.
Compromise of 1850: A package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress that defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states.