United States Profile: Key Facts & Civil War History
United States of America: Key Facts & History
General Information
- Capital: Washington, D.C.
- Largest City: New York City
- Official Languages: None at federal level[a]
- National Language: English[b]
- Ethnic Groups:
- 62.1% White
- 13.2% Black
- 5.4% Asian
- 1.4% Native
- 2.5% Other/Multiracial
- 17.4% Hispanic/Latino (Note: Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity and may overlap with racial categories)
- Demonym: American
- Government: Federal presidential constitutional republic
- Key Officials (as of original document):
- President: Barack Obama
- Vice President: Joe Biden
- Speaker of the House: Paul Ryan
- Chief Justice: John Roberts
- Independence from Great Britain:
- Declaration: July 4, 1776
- Confederation: March 1, 1781
- Treaty of Paris: September 3, 1783
- Constitution: June 21, 1788
- Area: 9,857,306 km²[4][c] (3rd/4th largest globally)
- Population: 322,014,853[5] (3rd largest globally)
- Motto: In God We Trust
- National Bird: Bald Eagle
- National Flower: Rose
- National Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner
Administrative Divisions: States & District of Columbia
The United States is composed of 50 states and the District of Columbia:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
National Flag Description
The U.S. flag consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states of the United States of America, and the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and became the first states in the Union.
The American Civil War
The Civil War Begins
On April 12, 1861, the South attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, marking the start of the war.
The Civil War Ends
On April 4, 1865, General Lee, the leader of the Confederate Army, surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
President Lincoln Assassinated
On April 14, 1865, while attending Ford’s Theatre, President Lincoln was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth.
Causes of the Civil War
- Missouri Compromise: Devised by Henry Clay, this deal admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. Additionally, all lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase north of 36° 30′ N latitude would be free.
- Nat Turner’s Rebellion: This bloody rebellion led by a Virginia slave resulted in new laws forbidding the education of slaves and further restricting their rights.
- Wilmot Proviso: The passage of the Wilmot Proviso, which aimed to prevent the introduction of slavery into lands acquired after the Mexican-American War, further polarized northern and southern politicians on the issue of slavery.
- The Slavery Issue: The practice of slavery threatened to destroy the United States. Northern voices called slavery barbaric, while Southern voices claimed slavery an economic necessity.
- Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad: For many years prior to the Civil War, Northerners helped Southern slaves escape captivity via a secret network of trails, tunnels, and caravans known as the Underground Railroad.
- Kansas-Nebraska Act: As the nation pushed closer to war over the issues of states’ rights and slavery, the Kansas-Nebraska Act resulted in mass violence in what came to be known as “Bleeding Kansas.”
- Ostend Manifesto: In a bungled attempt to annex Cuba from Spain, Northern abolitionists became suspicious of a conspiracy to extend the reach of slavery, which further soured relations between the North and South.
- Dred Scott Decision: In a landmark ruling, the United States Supreme Court ruled that slaves had no rights as United States citizens, even if they had previously lived in free states.
- Election of Abraham Lincoln: The “straw that broke the camel’s back” was undoubtedly the election of the Northern, Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. Southern states were virtually assured he would eventually abolish slavery.
- Secession: In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as the 16th president, 11 Southern states seceded from the Union to form their own nation called The Confederate States of America. Lincoln would assume the unenviable task of trying to restore the Union.
Effects of the Civil War
- Emancipation Proclamation: On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln declared all slaves in “enemy territory” liberated. However, those who owned slaves in “enemy” territory ignored the order, and slaves in border states were not included.
- The Division of Virginia: In 1863, citizens in the western portions of Virginia, who opposed secession, petitioned the U.S. Government for statehood. West Virginia became the 35th state on June 20, 1863.
- Death Toll: The Civil War was the deadliest war in American history. Well over 600,000 people died in combat, from disease, or as a direct result of the Civil War.
- Reconstruction Era: The period of time after the Civil War is known as Reconstruction. During this difficult era, the Southern states were gradually readmitted back into the Union, and the areas destroyed during the war were rebuilt.
- Scalawags and Carpetbaggers: The ruined South presented a wide range of economic and political opportunities for ambitious Northerners and Southerners. Scalawags and Carpetbaggers were derogatory terms used to describe such opportunists.
- Jim Crow Laws: The aftermath of the Civil War left many in the South bitter toward the integration of African Americans into society. Jim Crow Laws were state and local statutes enacted to disenfranchise and segregate African Americans, enforcing racial discrimination.