lincoln’s election, the secession crisis, and the onset of military conflict

Lincoln’s Election, The Secession Crisis, and the Onset of Military

ConflictHIST414: American Civil War

Dr. Kristen EppsSpring 2014

Today’s Questions

What was the significance of the Election of 1860?

Why did Southern states choose to secede?

What was the first military conflict of the war?

Abraham LincolnRepublican Presidential Nominee in

1860

Presidential Election of 1860

James Buchana

nPresident (D) from 1857-

1861

John CrittendenUnionist Senator from Kentucky

New York Times, February 6, 1861

“We have already more than once expressed our opinion, that the first duty of men of all parties, Democrats and Republicans,--is to lay aside all their political differences and rally to the support of the Constitution and the Union…. The Democrats, however, do not take this view of the subject. Their Conventions, their leaders, their public journals, while proclaiming their devotion to the Union, evade all responsibility for its preservation,--ignore utterly the plain, universal duty of loyalty to it, and demand that the Republicans shall preserve it in a specific manner,--namely, by compromising the questions at issue.”

Dates of Secession December 20, 1860: South Carolina secedes January 9, 1861: Mississippi secedes January 10, 1861: Florida secedes January 11, 1861: Alabama secedes January 19, 1861: Georgia secedes January 26, 1861: LA votes to secede, but

adopted a resolution stating that the Mississippi River would stay open

February 1, 1861: Texas secedes

Lincoln’s First Inaugural

“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.”

Map of Charleston Harbor

Ft. Sumter in South Carolina

Recruiting Poster, 1861

Process of Secession, 1861-1862

Summary and Conclusions

Lincoln’s election in 1860 was the immediate impetus for secession in the Deep South, and it also signaled a realignment of political parties

Southern states were not unanimously secessionist, but their interpretation of the Constitution differed from Northern interpretations

The Civil War officially began on April 14, 1861 with the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, South Carolina