Video Summary

The American Civil War took place in the United States from 1861 to 1865; between northern states that remained loyal to the Union and southern states that had seceded to establish the Confederate States of America. The long-running debate about the enslavement of African American people was the main cause of the start of the American Civil War. The Union loyalists in the North, which included some geographically western and southern states, declared their support for the Constitution. They were opposed by Confederate States of America secessionists in the South, who campaigned for states' rights to keep slavery. After Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States in March 1861, seven Southern slave states were deemed to have seceded from the republic by partisans in February 1861, and the new Confederate States of America was formed in Montgomery, Alabama. As the Union took control of the border and southern territories, both sides formed soldiers, and conflicts erupted. The Confederacy grew to control at least a majority of territory in the eleven states that had declared secession (out of the thirty-four U.S. states at the start of the war), as well as claiming the additional territories of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as parts of Tennessee and what was then Native American Territory. The twenty-three surviving states as well as some southern unionists supported the US administration. These steadfast states included California, Oregon, and Nevada after 1864, all of which had sided with the Union throughout the conflict. The twenty-three surviving states as well as some southern unionists supported the US administration. These steadfast states included California, Oregon, and Nevada after 1864, all of which had sided with the Union throughout the conflict. The American Civil War did not finish until Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The American Civil War had a profound impact on the identity of the United States, since it led to the freedom of African Americans during the Reconstruction Era and contributed to the formation of a more unified national identity.