Ch 36: MTTC History: The American Civil War
About This Chapter
MTTC History: The American Civil War - Chapter Summary
Watch entertaining and comprehensive videos to quickly review the battles, leaders and events of the Civil War. After surveying these lessons, you'll be ready to answer questions on the MTTC History exam about:
- Lincoln's election and Southern secession
- Advantages of the North and the South as the war began
- First Battle of Bull Run
- Antietam, Shiloh, New Orleans and other critical Civil War battles
- Context and legacy of the Emancipation Proclamation
- Turning points of the war at Chancellorsville, Vicksburg and Gettysburg
- General Grant's march toward Richmond
- Lincoln's assassination and the end of the Civil War
The instructors who lead these lessons are subject-matter experts who make learning about the Civil War fun and easy. Larger war concepts are broken down into small, easily digestible chunks that make it easy to retain critical info about the war for the MTTC History exam. Each lesson comes with a transcript, so you can quickly access definitions for vocabulary words, and video tags that you can use to refer back to main points of the videos you want to review.
Objectives of the MTTC History: The American Civil War Chapter
To teach history in Michigan, you'll first need to pass the MTTC History exam as part of the licensing process. The exam confirms your grasp of essential history topics via a series of multiple-choice questions. You might be asked to read passages or look at maps and answer questions about these materials. Generally, you'll choose the best option from a set of responses. The self-assessment quizzes that come with our lessons offer an easy way to get familiar with the format of the exam questions as well as the content.
You'll find questions about the Civil War in the U.S. history subarea, which is one of four subareas and represents 33% of the total questions on the exam.

1. Lincoln's Election, Southern Secession & the New Confederacy
Learn about how Abraham Lincoln's election in the contentious 1860 presidential race set off a domino effect leading to the secession of South Carolina and six other states and the formation of the Confederate States of America.

2. Civil War Begins: Northern and Southern Advantages Compared
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, both the North and South believed the conflict would be over quickly. But advantages for both the Confederacy and the Union meant a prolonged war between the states. In this lesson, discover some of the advantages that the North and South had.

3. The First Battle of Bull Run: Civil War Blood is Shed
Three months after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, Northern troops attacked Southern forces near the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. The first Battle of Bull Run (or Manassas) was the first major engagement of the Civil War and a terrifying defeat for the Union spectators who came to watch.

4. Key Civil War Battles in 1862: Monitor and Merrimac, Antietam, New Orleans & Shiloh
In 1862, the Union put its Anaconda Plan into action, resulting in several critical events: the Peninsular Campaign, the Battle of Hampton Roads between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia (Merrimack), the Battle of Shiloh, the capture of New Orleans, and the Battle of Antietam.

5. The Emancipation Proclamation: Creation, Context and Legacy
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. More than three million slaves in the South were freed, but the move was not without its critics, both then and now.

6. Civil War Turning Points: Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Vicksburg
In 1863, three events proved to be turning points for the American Civil War: the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg and the Siege of Vicksburg. Learn about these Civil War turning points in this lesson.

7. End of the Civil War: General Grant Begins the March Toward Richmond
President Lincoln took a gamble and named Ulysses S. Grant as General-in-Chief of the Union army. They devised a plan to finally take Richmond and win the war in 1864. In this lesson, learn about General Grant's controversial tactics.

8. Lincoln's Assassination and Lee's Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
Two of the most eventful weeks in American history took place between April 1 and April 15, 1865, during which Richmond (the capital of the Confederacy) fell, General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse and President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the MTTC History (009): Practice & Study Guide course
- MTTC History: Historical Research
- MTTC History: Tools for the Classroom
- MTTC History: The Stone Age
- MTTC History: The Bronze & Iron Ages
- MTTC History: Ancient Civilizations
- MTTC History: Ancient Middle East & India
- MTTC History: Early China & Japan
- MTTC History: Foundations of Religion
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- MTTC History: Buddhism
- MTTC History: Confucianism
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- MTTC History: The World Wars
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- MTTC History: Civil Rights in the U.S.
- MTTC History: U.S. Political Parties
- MTTC History: U.S. Electoral Systems
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- MTTC History: Federal Bureaucracy in the U.S.
- MTTC History: Types of Legislatures in Government
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- MTTC History: The American Congress
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- MTTC History: Introduction to Economics
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- MTTC History: Demand, Supply & Market Equilibrium
- MTTC History: Aggregate Demand & Supply
- MTTC History: Measuring the Economy
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- MTTC History: Understanding Unemployment
- MTTC History: Inflation & Unemployment
- MTTC History: Macroeconomic Equilibrium
- MTTC History: Money, Banking & Financial Markets
- MTTC History: Central Bank & the Money Supply
- MTTC History: Fiscal & Monetary Policies
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