The American Civil War

Presidential election of 1860

In 1860, Stephan Douglas and Abraham Lincoln ran against each other again, this time for president. Lincoln had become well known from their debates about slavery. This time, Lincoln won, becoming the 16th president.

Southern States secede

Lincoln received no support in the South because they believed he wanted to end slavery. Since there were so many more people in the North, he won the election anyway. As soon as Lincoln won the election, the South started to secede. This means the South split from the Union. They no longer wanted to be part of the United States. Supporters of secession based their arguments on the idea of states rights. They said they had voluntarily joined the union, so they could leave when they wanted.

Confederate States of America

On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede.
They were followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The eleven states that had seceded formed the Confederate States of America. They named Jefferson Davis as president. They wrote a new Constitution which made slavery legal.

Civil War
A civil war is a war between people of the same country. There have been many civil wars, but one of the worst happened in America. The American Civil War was fought to keep the South from leaving the Union. Slavery was the major issue that separated the North from the South.

The Civil War began at Fort Sumter.

Fort Sumter was in the South, and the Union had a hard time defending the fort. There were 23 states in the Union (North) at the beginning of the war. There were 11 states in the Confederacy (South) at the beginning of the war.

Norths Advantages
The North some many advantages. They had many more people and also had more factories, which could be used to make weapons The Union also had many more miles of railroad tracks.

Souths Advantages
The Souths main advantage was that they were fighting at home. This would mean that they would be closer to their supplies. They also would fight harder because they were protecting their homes.

The Confederacy also had superior generals and better trained soldiers.
The South was also being supplied by England at the beginning of the war. England wanted to keep trading

for the Souths cotton.