1. Which side benefited more from the Compromise of 1850, the North or the South?

2. In 1850, most Northerners would never have dreamed they would be fighting a war against the South. Why did Northern public opinion change?

3. Some historians have claimed that the Mexican War was the first battle of the Civil War. Do you agree? Why or why not?

4. What effect did the Bleeding Kansas crisis have on the slavery debate in the years immediately before the war?

5. Compare and contrast Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis as wartime presidents. What challenges did they face and how did they overcome them? Who, in your opinion, was the better leader, and why?

6. What was Britain’s role in the Civil War?

7. What was the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation? What effect did it have on the North and on the South?

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