1. THEQuestions: OF WAR
Essential
COST
1. How did the Civil War change the nation politically?
2. How did the Civil War change the nation economically?
3. What were the overall costs of the war?
4. What was the 13th amendment?
5. How did the assassination of Lincoln unfold?
6. Who was John Wilkes Booth and what was his fate?
7. After the end of the Civil War what issues now faced the
nation?

2. Political Changes
 Before the war states used
secession whenever federal
policies angered them
 After the war the federal
government was the supreme
national authority
 No state has ever threatened
secession since
 The war greatly increased
federal power
 It was more active in the lives of
Americans during the war
 They taxed citizens
 They tore men from their homes
to fight during the war

3. Economic Changes
 During the Civil War the federal
government had helped construct a
national railroad system
 The National Bank Act of 1863 setup a
system of federally chartered banks
 It made banking safer for investors
 The economy in the North boomed
 Done through the selling war
supplies
 After war they had money to invest
 The War devastated the South
 Took away its labor source
(slavery)
 It destroyed its major industries

4. Costs of the War
 360,000 Union soldiers
died
 260,000 Confederate
soldiers died
 275,000 Union and
225,000 Confederate
soldiers were wounded
 For 4-years the Civil War
disrupted life throughout
the nation
 Education, careers, and
families were put on hold

5. Thirteenth Amendment
 In the border states slavery was
still legal
 Lincoln pushed through an
amendment to outlaw slavery
everywhere but it was defeated
 It was re-introduced in the House
in 1865
 Amendment passed with only
two votes to spare
 By the end of 1865 27 states had
ratified the 13th amendment
 It said that “neither slavery, nor
involuntary servitude…shall exist
in the United States”

6. A Night at Ford’s Theater
 5-days after Lee
surrendered to Grant
Lincoln went Ford’s Theater
in Washington, D.C.
 He saw “Our American
Cousin”
 During the third act John
Wilkes Booth opened the
guarded door to the
presidential box
 He raised a pistol, and fired
at the back of Lincoln’s
head

7. John Wilkes Booth
 A 26-year old actor and southern
sympathizer
 After he killed Lincoln he leapt off
stage and screamed “Sic semper
tyrannis” (Thus be it ever to tyrants)
 Despite a broken leg from the jump
Booth escaped
 12 days later after a massive
manhunt he was trapped in a Virginia
barn
 Refused to surrender so the barn was
set on fire
 Was shot by either the Calvary or
himself
 With his dying breath he whispered
“useless, useless”

8. A Journey Home
 A funeral train carried Lincoln’s
body from Washington, D.C. to
Springfield Illinois
 It took 14 days to make the
journey
 7 million Americans turned out to
publicly mourn Lincoln’s death
 Now the nation faced two new
challenges:
 How to restore the southern
states into the Union
 How to integrate 4 million newly
freed African Americans into
national life?