1860's

The 1860's was a decade of war and greatness of people and inventions.
The Civil War was a bloody out come of the rivalry of southern and northern America. The North (union) and the South (confederacy) were brought to war because of the main disagreements in slave and free slave states. One of the main people in the 1860's was President Abraham Lincoln. In this decade there was one of the greatest presidents the United States has ever had. He is on our money and even has statues made for him as a sign that he was a great leader in this nations history. In the 1860's the first transcontinental railroad was built. This was a great invention for the Unites States

Civil War was the main event of the 1860's. It was a war within the Union (north) and the Confederacy (south). The war was caused by a couple of reasons but the main reason was the division of the slave states and free states. They both lived side by side for a while until new land was added to America. There was a conflict between them the north wanted any new states that entered the U.S to be free states and the south wanted them to be divided equally. One of the first attaches was on Fort Sumter. The Confederates wanted control of Fort Sumter because the Union were sending supplies there and the Confederates didn't want that a Union military base in South Carolina and they wanted more supplies. The Confederates demanded to have Fort Sumter but the union refused so on April 12, 1861 the Confederates attach Fort Sumter and try to take it over. The Confederates won and took control of the Fort for four years. Another important battle was the battle of Gettysburg in 1863. This battle had largest number of deaths of the whole Civil War. The battle started in July 1, 1863 when General Robert Lee commanded his troops to go north and try to take over some land and was met with the Union at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In July 3 Lee commanded retreat for the Confederates and the Union won the battle. The final battle that ended the Civil War was the battle of Appomattox Courthouse. General Lee surrendered to General Grant and ended the bloody Civil War in 1865. So the Union won the war and then joined the north and south again to form the United States Of America

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He played a really big role in this decade and the decisions he made. He was elected in 1860 and took office in 1861. He served in office until his death in April 15, 1865. He was the leader of the union and was against he thought of slavery but not until later on in his years in office he first thought that the slavery could be detained in the south and eventually slavery would just die out. One of his most famous speeches was the Gettysburg address and is well known. His death was that he was shot while at a play by John Wilkes Booth. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky. He also issued the Emancipation Proclamation and he supported the Thirteenth Amendment. The Emancipation Proclamation gave freedom to slaves in certain territories. The Thirteenth Amendment finally got rid of slavery. Abraham Lincoln gained a lot of support from African Americans from the Thirteenth Amendment and also made southerners madder than they were before. If we had a President like Lincoln these days our world would be a lot better than it is right now.

The first transcontinental railroad was built in the 1860's. It was finished on May 10, 1869. It was a crowning achievement for Abraham Lincoln. It was built to bind the union during the Civil War. The railroad tracks went westward to reach the Pacific Ocean. It was a faster way of transportation than a wagon so it was a good investment. It took a lot of engineering and labor to build the transcontinental railroad specially with the types of land they had to go over like plains and mountains. Most laborers were Irish, Mormons, and veterans of the Union and Confederates. The central pacific track was made of mostly Chinese. Most laborers would earn a salary from on to two dollars a day.

The 1860's was a decade of blood, leadership, and new transportation with benefits. The civil was main priority of the 1860's, it took up most of the years and it was so catastrophic to what the United States of America is today. If it never would have happened then the place we live in today might not have been what as free as what it is today. In this decade there was also one of the most respected men in this nations history Abraham Lincoln. He was a great leader and is a symbol in Americas history. The transcontinental railroad was the evolution in transportation for the United States.

SOURCES:

Golay,Michael. The Civil War.New York:Facts On File,1992

Kent Zachary.The Civil War"A HouseDivided".New Jersey: Enslow Publishers,inc 1994

Burns,Roger A.Abreham Lincoln.New York: Chelsea House, 1986

PICTURE SOURCES

Letters from Union and ConfederateSoldiers http://www.wtps.org/wths/imc/Teacher_Assignment/social_studies/borkowski/union%20flag.jpg

Slantmouth.com, http://slantmouth.com/articles/theUltimateCandidate/images/lincoln.jpg

SoldierStudies.org: Civil War Soldier in Combat WebQuest (Grades 10-12),Charles Call, SoldiersStudies.org, http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.soldierstudies.org/images/webquest/civil%2520war%2520soldiers.jpg