Canada and the American Civil War The American Civil War is important to our course because the threat of American invasion was one of the reasons the British created Canada as an independent country The British and Canadians were worried that the USA would invade because of Manifest Destiny, which was the American belief that they were destined by G-d to rule the entire North American continent and that it is the American mission to spread democracy Also, Canada saw that they needed to form a more centrally run country to avoid falling down a similar path as the United States

The American Civil War Causes: The northern states did not like the economic inequality which occurred between the north and the south due to the very cheap labour of slavery, which occurred only in the southern states, whose main economy was cotton Some in the north had religious or moral convictions against slavery Abraham Lincoln was elected as the President of the USA in He was strongly against slavery Events: After Lincoln was elected, South Carolina succeeded (separated) from the United States of America, called the Union or north They were followed by the other southern states, who joined together to form the Confederacy or south in 1861

The first battles of the Civil War were pitiful because neither side was well armed or trained. The battles were decided by whoever chickened and ran away first Most of the professional American soldiers were on the western frontier fighting in Indian Wars The Union had an advantage over the confederacy because they had 26 million people vs 8 million people Also, most of the American industry was up north The main Union offensives were aimed at the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia The main Confederate offensives were aimed at Washington D.C. The confederates were doing well, thanks to the very good military leadership of Robert E. Lee until their defeat at Gettysburg in 1863

The Union was more successful on the western front, where General Ulysses S. Grant was gaining ground on the Mississippi River In 1864, Grant captured Richmond and Union General W.T. Sherman split the Confederacy in two by capturing Georgia The Confederacy quickly fell apart and surrendered in 1865 All 4 million African American slaves were freed with the Emancipation Proclamation The United States had the largest army in the world when the war finished, which caused a threat to Canada, especially since the British supported the Confederacy The war caused 1 million casualties Military Advancements: Early gatling guns (machine guns), colt revolvers, breach loading rifles, trench warfare, Ironclad warships, submarines, better artillery