Abraham Lincoln and the secession of the Southern states

The Life of Lincoln

The child of uneducated farmers Never really fit in

By adulthood, he was 6’4 Mostly self-educated Refused to hunt because he believed killing any kind of

animal was wrong

Unsuccessfully ran for the Illinois General Assembly at the age of 23

Two years later, he ran for the state legislature and won (four times in a row!) Began teaching himself law at age 25

The Life of Lincoln

Even without a formal education, Lincoln became one of the most successful lawyers in Illinois

At age 28, he protested against slavery for the first time, not because he viewed African Americans as equals, but because it was “founded on both injustice and bad policy”

Five years later, Lincoln married Mary Todd and fathered 4 children (though only one lived to see adulthood)

Mary Todd

The Life of Lincoln

1846: Successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives “God of Heaven has forgotten to defend the weak

and innocent, and permitted the strong band of murderers and demons from hell to kill men, women, and children, and lay waste and pillage the land of the just.” - Lincoln

His speech tarnished his reputation so he didn’t run for reelection

Practiced law for the next 12 years

The Life of Lincoln

In 1858, he lost against Stephen Douglas for a seat in the U.S. Senate

Finally, in 1860, after 28 bumpy years in politics, Lincoln was elected as the 16th president of the United States of America

Winner

Winner of the Popular Vote: Abraham Lincoln Runner up: Stephen Douglas Winner of the Electoral College: Abraham

Lincoln Runner up: John Breckinridge

Lincoln Becomes President

Southerners threatened to secede from the Union Secession: The act of withdrawing a state from the Union

Most Northerners viewed secession as illegal “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is

the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.” Abraham Lincoln

Southerners viewed secession as legal through state’s rights (the belief that every state has rights that the federal government cannot overrule—every state chose to join the Union, therefore, they could leave it)

Secession Begins

Dec. 1860: South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union Mississippi Florida Alabama Georgia Louisiana Texas

By 1862, eleven states seceded from the Union

Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland were the five slave statesthat remained part of the Union (United States).

Confederate States of America

Modeled after the United States of America with several exceptions Slavery was legal in any

state or territory that wanted it to be legal

States were given more rights

Elected Jefferson Davis as president Mismanaged almost every

aspect of the government and war effort

The Final Straw

The Crittenden Compromise: An attempt to settle the differences between the North and the South The bill was defeated in the Senate Various other attempts to settle the dispute only

succeeded in angering both sides Attack on Fort Sumter

South Carolina attacked Fort Sumter to prevent the Union from shipping war supplies into the South

Began the American Civil War

Why attack?

Fort Sumter