The War of the North

Available for over a year

150 years after the start of the American Civil War, Dr Adam Smith travels from Lincoln's home town of Springfield, Illinois to Washington DC and the battlefields of Virginia as he asks why the North fought and what it won. With the help of leading historians including Eric Foner, Gary Gallagher, Ed Ayres, James McPherson and Chandra Manning, Adam reveals the worlds and minds of the North, considers the relationship between the Civil War and Emancipation and asks whether the victory of the North means that a conflict that killed more than half a million Americans should now be a cause for celebration. Producer: Julia Johnson.