In this inquiry, students examine the question of whether the Civil War had to end the way it did. On February 3, 1865, leaders from the Union and the Confederacy met in Hampton Roads, Virginia, to discuss a negotiated end to the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward represented the United States. Representing the Confederacy were Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, Senator Robert M. T. Hunter, and Assistant Secretary of War John A. Campbell. They discussed terms for an end to the war, including a compromise over slavery and compensation for emancipate