American civil war

With the Declaration of Independence in 1776, 13 former British colonies became the United States of America, but by the 1830s it was clear the new nation was divided. Explore articles on the causes, events and legacy of the American Civil War (1861–65) – from how the issue of slavery created discord between north and south, to key moments such as the battle of Gettysburg.

Portrait of Mary Surratt

The real history of Mary Surratt’s controversial role in the Lincoln conspiracy

American Republican politician, Robert Smalls (1839 - 1915), born a slave in South Carolina, he was later elected to serve as a Congressman for his home state. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Black History Month The slave who stole a ship and sailed to freedom

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Pod Sarah Churchwell WL

Gone with the Wind: how a 1936 novel explains modern America . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration showing the effects of the Fugitive Slave Act, passed by Congress in 1850. The law aimed to make it easier for slaveholders to reclaim runaway ‘property’ in the free states, and contributed to rising political tension. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

The story of the American Civil War 32 key moments in the landmark conflict

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Historian Joyce Lee Malcolm

Joyce Lee Malcolm on gun ownership in America “Why is the right to be armed such an emotional one for Americans? No police force can protect everyone, or even any one, all of the time” . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A group of formerly enslaved African-Americans around the time of the US Civil War

Why we should remember… The Amnesty Act of 1872

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Islam Issa reveals how terrorists have twisted Shakespeare’s life and work to suit their own ends over the centuries. (Image by Getty Images)

How Shakespeare inspired terrorists . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Shakespeare's house in Stratford-Upon-Avon

Q&A Why was Stratford-upon-Avon a hotbed of Confederate activity?

(Illustration by Glen McBeth for BBC History Magazine)

Q&A What are the origins of the word ‘shoddy’?

A photograph of Abraham Lincoln taken after his November 1860 election and before his March 1861 inauguration.

How Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 election victory set America on the path to Civil War

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View of East Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (Photo by Library of Congress)

The American Civil War: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Violence erupted in New Orleans, and white southerners killed and injured more than 100 freed slaves during a riot against reconstruction plans. (Image by Alamy)

Rebuilding America after the Civil War: what was the Reconstruction era and why did it fail?

Slaves of Confederate Brigadier-General Thomas F Drayton at his cotton plantation in South Carolina during the American Civil War

Why is America haunted by its past?

American actresses Frances Dee, Jean Parker, Katharine Hepburn, and Joan Bennett playing the March girls in George Cukor's film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women', 1933. (Photo by RKO Pictures/Courtesy of Getty Images)

“Fresh and full of soul”: the history of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women

Robert E Lee (seated at the table, left) surrenders to Union commander Ulysses S Grant at Appomattox Court House. (Image by Alamy)

A battle of wills: why the South lost the American Civil War