November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States. December 20, 1860 South Carolina secedes. December 24, 1860 "Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina" "[A]n increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution... Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free." 1861 January 9, 1861 Mississippi secedes "A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union." Before Georgia seceded, Mississippi sent its commissioner, William L. Harris, to the Georgia Legislature. He decried the threat of Lincoln and the Republicans and told the members that they had to choose between "This new union with Lincoln Black Republicans and free Negroes, without slavery; or, slavery under our old constitutional bond of union, without Lincoln Black Republicans, or free Negroes either, to molest us." January 10, 1861 Florida secedes from the Union. Florida did not write a declaration. January 11, 1861 Alabama secedes from the Union. Alabama Commissioner Stephen Fowler Hale failed in his effort to convince Kentucky to secede, but wrote to the governor a diatribe against Northern attacks on slavery and lamented that Lincoln's election was "nothing less than an open declaration of war, for the triumph of this new theory of government destroys the property of the South, lays waste her fields, and inaugurates all the horrors of a Santo Domingo servile resurrection...." "Whereas, the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States of America by a sectional party avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions and to the peace and security of the State of Alabama, preceded by many and dangerous infractions of the Constitution of the United States by many of the States and people of the Northern section, is a political wrong of so insulting and menacing a character as to justify the people of the State of Alabama in the adoption of prompt and decided measures for their future peace and security." January 19, 1861 Georgia secedes from the Union. "Declaration of the Causes of Secession, Georgia" "The prohibition of slavery in the Territories is the cardinal principle of [the Republicans]," and that "by their declared principles and policy they have outlawed $3,000,000,000 of our property in the common territories of the Union." January 26, 1861 Louisiana secedes from the Union. Commissioner George Williamson George Williamson to the Texas Secession Convention on March 9, 1861: "Being desirous of obtaining the concurrence of the people of Texas in what she has done, Louisiana invites you to a candid consideration of her acts in resuming the powers delegated to the government of the late United States, and in providing for the formation of a confederacy of "The States which have seceded and may secede." ... She was impelled to this action to preserve her honor, her safety, her property and the free institutions so sacred to her people. She believed the federal agent had betrayed her trust, had become the facile instrument of a hostile people, and was usurping despotic powers. She considered that the present vacillating executive, on the 4th of March next, would be supplanted by a stalwart fanatic of the Northwest, whose energetic will, backed by the frenzied bigotry of unpatriotic masses, would cause him to *establish* the military despotism already inaugurated." February 1, 1861 Texas secedes from the Union. "A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union" "We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial and tolerable." February 4, 1861 Seceded states held a Convention in Montgomery, Alabama. February 8, 1861 Convention adopted a Confederate Constitution. February 9, 1861 Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederate States. After taking the oath of office as the Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander H. Stephens, a former Congressman from Georgia, stated that: Jefferson Davis "Our new government is founded on the opposite idea of the equality of the races . . . Its corner stone rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man. This . . . government is the first in the history of the world, based on this great physical and moral truth." March 4, 1861 Lincoln's Inauguration. At Lincoln's inauguration the new president said he had no plans to end slavery in those states where it already existed, but he also said he would not accept secession. He hoped to resolve the national crisis without warfare. March 9, 1861 Address of George Williamson to the Texas Secession Convention March 11, 1861 Confederate Constitution April 12, 1861 Attack on Fort Sumter - the opening engagement of the American Civil War. This attack prompted four more states to join the Confederacy. April 17, 1861 Virginia secedes from the Union. With Virginia's secession, Richmond was named the Confederate capitol. May 6, 1861 Arkansas secedes from the Union. May 6, 1861 Tennessee secedes from the Union. May 21, 1861 North Carolina secedes from the Union. June, 1861 West Virginia is created. Residents of the western counties of Virginia did not wish to secede along with the rest of the state. This section of Virginia was admitted into the Union as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. June, 1861 Four Slave States Stay in the Union. Despite their acceptance of slavery, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri did not join the Confederacy. Although divided in their loyalties, a combination of political maneuvering and Union military pressure kept these states from seceding. August 16, 1861 Confederate states declared to be in a state of insurrection by President Lincoln. 1. Which southern state seceded first? 2. How long after Lincoln’s election did that state secede 3. Use the quote from the “Declaration of causes” explain why that state seceded. 4.Which state seceded next and what reasons did that state have for seceding? 5. What reason did Alabama give for seceding? 6. By the end of January 1861, how many states had seceded? 7. What reason did Texas give for seceding? 8. At Lincoln’s inauguration as president, how did he react to the issues of slavery,secession,and a possible war? 9. On august 16,1861,president Lincoln declared the Confederate States to be in rebellion against the United States. Why do you think Lincoln would call it a rebellion instead of calling the situation a war? 10. Why did southern states secede from the union

November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States. December 20, 1860 South Carolina secedes. December 24, 1860 "Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina" "[A]n increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution... Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free." 1861 January 9, 1861 Mississippi secedes "A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union." Before Georgia seceded, Mississippi sent its commissioner, William L. Harris, to the Georgia Legislature. He decried the threat of Lincoln and the Republicans and told the members that they had to choose between "This new union with Lincoln Black Republicans and free Negroes, without slavery; or, slavery under our old constitutional bond of union, without Lincoln Black Republicans, or free Negroes either, to molest us." January 10, 1861 Florida secedes from the Union. Florida did not write a declaration. January 11, 1861 Alabama secedes from the Union. Alabama Commissioner Stephen Fowler Hale failed in his effort to convince Kentucky to secede, but wrote to the governor a diatribe against Northern attacks on slavery and lamented that Lincoln's election was "nothing less than an open declaration of war, for the triumph of this new theory of government destroys the property of the South, lays waste her fields, and inaugurates all the horrors of a Santo Domingo servile resurrection...." "Whereas, the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States of America by a sectional party avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions and to the peace and security of the State of Alabama, preceded by many and dangerous infractions of the Constitution of the United States by many of the States and people of the Northern section, is a political wrong of so insulting and menacing a character as to justify the people of the State of Alabama in the adoption of prompt and decided measures for their future peace and security." January 19, 1861 Georgia secedes from the Union. "Declaration of the Causes of Secession, Georgia" "The prohibition of slavery in the Territories is the cardinal principle of [the Republicans]," and that "by their declared principles and policy they have outlawed $3,000,000,000 of our property in the common territories of the Union." January 26, 1861 Louisiana secedes from the Union. Commissioner George Williamson George Williamson to the Texas Secession Convention on March 9, 1861: "Being desirous of obtaining the concurrence of the people of Texas in what she has done, Louisiana invites you to a candid consideration of her acts in resuming the powers delegated to the government of the late United States, and in providing for the formation of a confederacy of "The States which have seceded and may secede." ... She was impelled to this action to preserve her honor, her safety, her property and the free institutions so sacred to her people. She believed the federal agent had betrayed her trust, had become the facile instrument of a hostile people, and was usurping despotic powers. She considered that the present vacillating executive, on the 4th of March next, would be supplanted by a stalwart fanatic of the Northwest, whose energetic will, backed by the frenzied bigotry of unpatriotic masses, would cause him to establish the military despotism already inaugurated." February 1, 1861 Texas secedes from the Union. "A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union" "We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial and tolerable." February 4, 1861 Seceded states held a Convention in Montgomery, Alabama. February 8, 1861 Convention adopted a Confederate Constitution. February 9, 1861 Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederate States. After taking the oath of office as the Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander H. Stephens, a former Congressman from Georgia, stated that: Jefferson Davis "Our new government is founded on the opposite idea of the equality of the races . . . Its corner stone rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man. This . . . government is the first in the history of the world, based on this great physical and moral truth." March 4, 1861 Lincoln's Inauguration. At Lincoln's inauguration the new president said he had no plans to end slavery in those states where it already existed, but he also said he would not accept secession. He hoped to resolve the national crisis without warfare. March 9, 1861 Address of George Williamson to the Texas Secession Convention March 11, 1861 Confederate Constitution April 12, 1861 Attack on Fort Sumter - the opening engagement of the American Civil War. This attack prompted four more states to join the Confederacy. April 17, 1861 Virginia secedes from the Union. With Virginia's secession, Richmond was named the Confederate capitol. May 6, 1861 Arkansas secedes from the Union. May 6, 1861 Tennessee secedes from the Union. May 21, 1861 North Carolina secedes from the Union. June, 1861 West Virginia is created. Residents of the western counties of Virginia did not wish to secede along with the rest of the state. This section of Virginia was admitted into the Union as the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. June, 1861 Four Slave States Stay in the Union. Despite their acceptance of slavery, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri did not join the Confederacy. Although divided in their loyalties, a combination of political maneuvering and Union military pressure kept these states from seceding. August 16, 1861 Confederate states declared to be in a state of insurrection by President Lincoln. 1. Which southern state seceded first? 2. How long after Lincoln’s election did that state secede 3. Use the quote from the “Declaration of causes” explain why that state seceded. 4.Which state seceded next and what reasons did that state have for seceding? 5. What reason did Alabama give for seceding? 6. By the end of January 1861, how many states had seceded? 7. What reason did Texas give for seceding? 8. At Lincoln’s inauguration as president, how did he react to the issues of slavery,secession,and a possible war? 9. On august 16,1861,president Lincoln declared the Confederate States to be in rebellion against the United States. Why do you think Lincoln would call it a rebellion instead of calling the situation a war? 10. Why did southern states secede from the union