Which economy was best for the country’s future? The industrial economy of the North? Or the plantation system of the South? The stage was set for a financial fracas that would lead to the deadliest war in US history.
America Explained
Exploring America’s history and how it impacts today’s society – from the Founding Mothers to what marijuana tells us about States’ rights
Civil War: Industry and Supply
Supplying almost three million soldiers with the food, clothes and resources they needed to fight the Civil War was no easy task. So which side proved most successful?
Gettysburg Address: The Two Minute Speech That Saved America
It’s got fewer words than the average rap song, and takes less time to read than it does to boil an egg. So how did the Gettysburg Address inspire a global movement for democratic change that’s still shaping our lives today?
Choosing Sides: Native Americans and the Civil War
What about the Native Americans who found themselves stuck in the middle of the Civil War – why did they fight for both sides?#
Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Did a Book Spark the Civil War?
It was published nine years before a shot was fired. And was written by a woman. How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin fan the flames of the American Civil War?
Black Soldiers and the Fight for Citizenship
For those enslaved, it was the perpetrator of countless horrors. So why did almost 200,000 African-Americans put their lives on the line to preserve the United States?
The New South: After Reconstruction
After the American Civil War, the American South attempted a rebrand. But would it accept the progressive social and political changes of the Reconstruction Era?
Lives of the Enslaved During the Civil War
How did life change for enslaved people as the American Civil War raged around them?
Remembering the Civil War
No two Americans had the same experience of the Civil War – and everyone remembers it differently. Through the stories they told – and the artifacts that survived – various narratives emerged!
Dred Scott: Suing for Freedom
Dred Scott went to the US Supreme Court to sue for his freedom. The Court ruled that Black people were “inferior beings” with no Constitutional rights. This decision helped spark the American Civil War.