Secession and War

American History before 1877

Secession Crisis

Election: November 6, 1860

Lincoln wins without a single Southern state

Not even on the ballot in 11 Southern states

1860 census: North +41%, South +27%

South Carolina secedes, December 20, 1860

Divided cabinet paralyzes Buchanan

Condemns Northern troublemakers; secession illegal

Crittenden Compromise

Extend 36°30" Missouri Compromise line to Pacific

Slavery protected where it is

Lincoln opposes

Cotton states secede

Union holds Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor

Buchanan sends secret ship to reinforce

Rumors: Buchanan sending invasion force

Reinforcement of Ft. Sumter prevented, Jan. 11

Jan. 9-Feb. 1: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas secede & seize federal property

Feb. 7: Constitution of the Confederate States of America

President: one 6-year term

Constitutional protection for slavery

No internal improvements; no tariffs

Convention chooses Jefferson Davis as President

Lincoln’s Inauguration

Long trip to Washington

Reports of assassination plot; sneaks through Baltimore

A plea for peace: the First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861

     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 can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. 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.”

     I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Firm, but not aggressive

Delicate task: holding on to 8 other slave states

Public non-military resupply ship to Fort Sumter

April 4: Virginia votes against secession!

Pressure on Confederate government

April 12: Confederacy attacks Fort Sumter

Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers for 3 months

Perhaps a million volunteer

Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas secede

The Civil War begins