Aim:1. Why did the Southern States Secede?

CONFEDERACY: Name given to the group of 11 southern states who seceded from the Union to form a new nation. The name for this new nation was the Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy. It was also known as the South.

UNION: The name given to the northern states who did not secede from the United States. These states were also known as the North.

Secede: The act of leaving the nation to create a new nation.

CIVIL WAR: A war fought between people of the same nation. Most nations of the world have fought civil wars. However the correct name of our civil war would be the US Civil War, the War Between the States, or the War between the North & South.

When Abraham Lincoln was elected President, in 1860, eleven Southern States seceded from the US or the Union. These states believed that President Lincoln wanted to end slavery which was vital to the economy of the South. Since the South’s economy was based on farming, with slaves doing all the work, because labor saving farm machinery had not yet been invented, the South feared that Lincoln’s election would destroy the South.

Lincoln did not want to end slavery, he just wanted to prevent its spread into the new states which would be created in the West. Lincoln was well aware of the importance of slavery to the economy of the US. Unfortunately the South did not believe Lincoln & they seceded from the Union when he was elected.

Lincoln went to war to preserve the Union & keep it together. He did not want war, & begged the South to reconsider their actions. However he warned the South that any military actions they took against the Union might lead to war!

HOMEWORK:

Read pages 304 – 306. Do page 303 Questions 1- 5.