As the nation expanded and its population grew, regional tensions, especially over slavery, led to a civil war—the course and aftermath of which transformed American society. Topics may include
Image Source: A detail from A Ride for Liberty—The Fugitive Slaves, a painting by Eastman Johnson, ca. 1862. (Brooklyn Museum)
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5.1: The United States became more connected with the world, pursued an expansionist foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere, and emerged as the destination for many migrants from other countries.
5.2: Intensified by expansion and deepening regional divisions, debates over slavery and other economic, cultural, and political issues led the nation into civil war.
5.3: The Union victory in the Civil War and the contested reconstruction of the South settled the issues of slavery and secession, but left unresolved many questions about the power of the federal government and citizenship rights.
Letter explaining the challenges faced by emigrants heading west before railroads
Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, advocates westward expansion
Read about the critical roles women have played from the earliest Indian societies to the era of the homesteaders.
Watch a discussion of the origins of the idea of Manifest Destiny.
Photographs depicting the Union Pacific Railroad and the rugged beauty of western landscapes
Alamo defender's desperate appeal for reinforcements
Read about a soldier's observations about the invasion and occupation of Central Mexico.
Read about the history of San Antonio and the Alamo.
Watch a discussion of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Learn about the impact of territorial loss on Mexican-Americans after 1848
Rewards for the return of four men escaping slavery in Missouri
Examine the enduring influence and importance of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Speech fragment expressing Abraham Lincoln's view of slavery as a threat to the existence of the US
Letter discussing the negotiations pertaining the buying of Frederick Douglass’s freedom
Letter to Prince Albert recognizing English strides in their treatment of an “oppressed race"
Watch a discussion of Black abolitionists.
Watch a discussion of Dred Scott as more than a court case, but as a family story of slavery and freedom.
Watch a discussion of how the Fugitive Slave Act changed northern views of slavery.
A Black businessman refuses to do work for a US marshal
Catalogue for an estate sale including enslaved individuals
Watch a discussion of abolitionism as a grassroots movement.
Understand the historical context of the Underground Railroad.
Watch a discussion of Lincoln's "House Divided" speech.
Letter from a woman who lost family to John Brown, written to him in prison
John Brown’s final speech defending his actions at Harper's Ferry
Broadside published after South Carolina's secession
Watch a discussion of how the Secession Ordinance led directly to the Civil War.
Watch a discussion of Lincoln's political viewpoints in delivering his first inaugural address.
Examine the influence of Jacksonian democracy on Abraham Lincoln.
Watch a discussion of how Lincoln's speech at the Cooper Institute propelled him to the presidency.
President Lincoln’s appeal to "the better angels of our nature" to hold the nation together
Learn about the causes and key turning points in the Civil War.
Watch a discussion of points of view of Black soldiers in a postwar photograph.
Learn about Lincoln's evolving position on abolition, emancipation, and African Americans.
Watch a discussion of slavery as the cause of the Civil War.
Correspondence reflecting views of two friends on opposite sides of the Civil War
Proposed prewar thirteenth amendment protecting slavery
Lincoln ordering the suspension of habeas corpus in Maryland
Lincoln denying clemency to a convicted slave trader
Currier & Ives print of the famed Massachusetts 54th
Address commemorating those who had sacrificed their lives for the Union
Watch a virtual tour of the battlefield at Gettysburg.
Watch a discussion about Presidential powers and the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Watch a discussion of the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Photograph of emancipated children used to raise money for the education of freed enslaved people
Read about the movement to extend freedom to African Americans.
Watch a discussion of resources, manpower, and leadership in the North and South.
Watch a discussion of why the Civil War remains of great interest to Americans.
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877) Timeline and essay addressing the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Sumner's notes for “One Man Power vs. Congress” address accusing Johnson of jeopardizing the North’s cause and victory
Understand the events that led to the Compromise of 1876 and the end of Reconstruction.
Lincoln's reflections on the causes and meaning of the Civil War
Examine the story of Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S., and specifically the day slavery ended in Texas – June 19, 1865.
Reflections on Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and his views of the Civil War.
Watch a discussion of the politics of Reconstruction and the creation of new systems after the Civil War.
Watch a discussion of Reconstruction and the titanic changes that emerged from the Civil War.
Watch a discussion of the evolving scholarly understanding of Reconstruction.
Gain an understanding of how Reconstruction affected the fight for women's suffrage.
Learn how Transcendentalism influenced social reform.
Listed in order of appearance in the sections above