STEP 3: PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

CHAPTER 15 STUDY GUIDE

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER Now, take a step back and try to explain the big picture. Remember to use specific examples from the chapter in your answers.

THE EARLY YEARS OF THE WAR

  • Why did the North, with all its advantages, fail to achieve rapid victory over the South?

  • Why did the South fail to attract international support for its cause?

THE HOME FRONT

  • Why did Lincoln decide to issue the Emancipation Proclamation? How did Northerners respond to this decision?

  • Why did conditions in the South deteriorate as the war went on? How did problems on the home front undermine the South’s war effort?

UNION VICTORY

  • What was Grant’s strategy? How did it turn the tide of the war?

  • Is it possible to identify a point at which Union victory became inevitable? Explain your reasoning.

LOOKING BACKWARD, LOOKING AHEAD

  • Argue for or against the following statement: “The root cause of the Civil War was the failure of the architects of the Constitution to resolve the issue of slavery once and for all.”

  • What changes that occurred during the Civil War might have forecast what a northern victory would mean for the nation?

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