Library of Congress
Loc: American Treasures: A More Perfect Union: Gallery B
This is a large site from American Treasures covering primary source documents from the early 1800s through the Civil War and on to Western Expansion.
US Department of State
Bureau of International Information Programs: History Outline: Sectionalism
Article reviews several conditions of American society that sowed the seeds of civil war, particularly slavery and sectional conflict.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Factory vs. Plantation in the North and South
This lesson helps students study life in the United States in the years before the Civil War. Students will gain a better understanding of why people grew willing to fight to defend their way of life. Many of the documents students will...
Digital History
Digital History: The Political Crisis of the 1840s
Read about the attempt to keep slavery out of the newly acquired Mexican Cession, and so how this attempt revealed an increased split between North and South.
Digital History
Digital History: Southern Nationalism
An interesting look at the Southern attempt to, at first defend the institution of slavery, and later, to become defiant about it. See how Southern intellectuals, religious leaders, and politicians strove to create a self-sufficiency in...
Digital History
Digital History: The Slave Power Conspiracy
Read about a book published in 1864 that contended that there was a conspiracy to spread slavery into the western territories. See that the accusations included in the book could not be authenicated, but the ideas presented showed the...
Digital History
Digital History: The Impending Crisis: Conclusion
A concise review of the ways the issue of slavery split the country from the Missouri Compromise to eventual secession of the southern states.
CommonLit
Common Lit: "A Nation Divided: North vs. South" by Us history.org
The American Civil War was fought within the United States from 1861 to 1865. The election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860 increased tension between the North and South. Lincoln's political party was interested in stopping the...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1844 1877: Quiz 1
A quick five question quiz over US history in the mid 1800s.
Digital History
Digital History: Southern Radicalism
A look at a little-studied action in American History when men, known as filibusters raised private armies to invade foreign countries. See what these filibusters had to do with the desire to spread slavery.
Ducksters
Ducksters: Kids History: John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid
Explore an attempt at a slave uprising at Harpers Ferry to end slavery by John Brown during the Civil War on this site.