“Who freed the slaves?” is one of the classic questions scholars of the Civil War

era have spent decades debating. How would you answer that question? When

we talk, teach, and write about the history of emancipation, who are the

important actors in the story? Explain your answer.

2. In most American history textbooks, western territory features prominently in

the political conflicts of the decades leading up to the Civil War but recedes from

view during the war itself (1865). Providing at least three specific examples, how

is the West important to the political, military, and cultural developments of the

Civil War era as well? To what extent is the Civil War a national rather than

regional (North vs. South) conflict? Explain your answer.