1. Warm-Up (4/18)
1) Please pick up the sheet from the side table 2) At your desk answer the following question:

2. The Election of 1860 and Secession

3. Election of 1860

4. The Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln was nominated by the Republican party. He was seen as the candidate of abolition
The Northern Democrats chose Stephen Douglas to run as their candidate. He continued to support popular sovereignty.
Southern Democrats, who supported a stronger position in favor of slavery, split from their party and chose John Breckinridge.
The Constitutional Union Party selected John Bell to run as their candidate. Bell favored continued efforts for compromise.

5. The Election of 1860

6. South Carolina Secedes
Southerners thought that Lincoln’s election meant their economic ruin and their only choice was secession.
South Carolina based their actions on states’ rights:
The states had voluntarily joined the Union and therefore they had the right to leave the Union

7. …And this was all before Lincoln was even inaugurated!
Secession
During the next 8 weeks: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Texas all voted to secede from the Union.
…And this was all before Lincoln was even inaugurated!

8. Lincoln’s Inauguration
Lincoln said, “he would not interfere with slavery in the states where it already existed.”
He also said, “no state could lawfully leave the Union.”

9. 1st States to Secede 7 Original Confederate States: SC 1st MS AL GA LATX FL
7 Original Confederate States:
SC=South Carolina GA=Georgia AL=Alabama
MS=Mississippi FL=Florida LA=Louisiana
TX=Texas

10. In Feb. 1861 – The seceding states formed the Confederate States of America
1st Official Confederate Flag
Originally a Naval Flag

11. Position of the North:
Secession was an act of betrayal.
They were fighting to preserve the Union.

12. Position of the South: States had a right
Portrait of Pvt. Walter Miles Parker, 1st Florida Cavalry
Position of the South:
States had a right
to secede. The states had voluntarily joined the Union and therefore had the right to leave the Union.
Many referred to the Civil War as the “War for Southern Independence” or the “War of Northern Aggression”

13. Fort Sumter
Lincoln tried hard to avoid war. However, the Confederates had started seizing U.S. forts in the South
Charleston, SC was one of the remaining forts held by the Union in the South, but their supplies were running low.

14. Fort Sumter

15. Fort Sumter

16. The next day, the fort surrendered without a single loss of life.
Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society, [Digital ID, e.g., nhnycw/ad ad04004]
The next day, the fort surrendered without a single loss of life.
This became the official start to the Civil War.