Your students, using this Jackdaw, will understand the significance of secession as a major cause of the Civil War, in addition to the issue of slavery. Hands-on historical documents — Lee’s letter about joining the Confederacy, notes from a slave, Lincoln’s memos, a map of the states in 1860 — help students explore secession and its many ramifications for the nation. Historians: National Historical Publications and Records Commission - Editor, Mary A. Giunta, Compiler, Burt Knauft. The contents of this Jackdaw feature:

• What Is Secession?
• Right of States to Secede from the Union
• Slavery — An Issue That Divided the Union
• “A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand”
• The Significance and Consequences of the Civil War
• Comparison: United States and Confederate Constitutions

• U.S. map illustrating seceding and border states, 1860-61.
• Newspaper article on South Carolina’s secession from the Union, New York Daily Tribune, December 1860.
• Secession gallery — 17 annotated illustrations and photos of the turmoil, 1852-67.
• Ulysses S. Grant’s letter to Frederick Dent on the coming war and slavery, April 1861.
• Letter from Robert E. Lee to his sister about his decision to join the Confederacy, April 1861.
• Jefferson Davis’ inaugural address and rationale for secession and establishment of the Confederacy. February 1862.
• Letter and list of slaves from a former slaveholder, May 1862.
• Abraham Lincoln’s letter to Horace Greeley describing Lincoln’s policy on the war and slavery, August 1862.
• Certificate of Freedom for slave “Augustus,” September 1862.
• Testimony from former slaveholder to Freedman’s Inquiry Commission, November 1863.
• Letter from James Herney, a black soldier, to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, May 1866.
• Pictures and descriptions of 14 famous and important people during secession and the Civil War.