VIEW: Secession
Secession
As you view the PowerPoint presentation below, think about the following:
- Think about how it would feel if people that were your friends all of a sudden were on the opposite side of a war?
- Was it legal for states to leave the Union?
- Was it a state right?
- Who became the President of the Confederate States?
Preserving the Union
Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. South Carolina voted to secede
the United States, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and then Texas. They formed a new country called the Confederate States of America. When they attacked the U.S. Army base at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, the long-feared Civil War had begun..
President Lincoln believed preservation of the United States was the most important task for any U.S. president. He did not believe the southern states had the right to secede from the Union and thought they were merely rebelling against the government. He never considered the Confederacy a separate country. When Lincoln called for a large volunteer army to preserve the Union, more states-Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee-seceded to join the Confederacy. Although Lincoln had often stated he only wished to restrict the spread of slavery instead of abolish it, over time he did embrace the idea of ending slavery in the United States.
Click HERE to view Civil War- Secession- 1860-1861 PPT
After you have completed this part of the lesson, you can check the associated box on the main course page to mark it as complete 