Составить любые 5 вопросов по тексту: by 1861 (that was the year the war started) there were already thirty-four states in the union. all the states were different from each other and developed in different ways. the northern states built factories and plants, and they also had a bigger population. the southern states grew crops, which they then sold to europe. the southerners had huge cotton fields, where black slaves worked. there were about three and a half million slaves in the southern states. as you know, although it was written in the declaration of independence that all men are created equal, these words were not true for the slaves. they lived in terrible conditions and had to work day and night. even some southerners understood that slavery was inhuman, but without it they were afraid their whole way of life would be destroyed. the northerners were strongly against slavery; a lot of them helped slaves escape from their owners. they also tried to pass new laws to abolish slavery. this idea became more and more popular, which didn't suit many people in the south. the southern states felt that their own country was against them, and they started to think of breaking away from the united states. when the time for the next elections came, it was clear that the most important question would be slavery. there were four candidates, but a northerner called abraham lincoln won the election. in his inaugural address lincoln warned the southerners that they shouldn't destroy the union of the states, but they didn't listen. in february 1861 eleven southern states formed their own union, which was called the confederacy, but abraham lincoln wouldn't let them split up the country. and so the civil war began. the north (their army was called the union army) was actually more powerful than the south: as you remember, they had more men, and their factories produced weapons and supplied the northern army with everything it needed. but the confederacy had one big advantage: they didn't have to invade the north, they just had to protect their own land and homes. at that time a lot of people thought that it would be possible. so at first, the confederacy had more luck: their men were better trained and fought with more spirit. just as in the revolutionary war. americans from the south were once again fighting for their independence. the union soldiers were getting tired. after they lost some important battles, the anti-slavery idea wasn't enough to inspire them any more. the southerners felt that just one more big victory would be enough to win the war. it was all decided here in gettysburg in june 1863. the three-day battle was terrible and took the lives of more than fifty thousand men. on the fourth day, the confederate commander, general lee, had to admit that he had lost the battle. after the battle, the american president, abraham lincoln, came to gettysburg to honour the memory of those who had died there. he made a speech there, which later became famous as "the gettysburg address". in that speech lincoln told his countrymen that it was for them to make sure "that the dead shall not have died in vain and that this nation, under god, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." two years later the confederacy finally surrendered to the union. as a result of the war, slavery was abolished and the united states of america was one country again.