-
Election of Abraham Lincoln
It was Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 which is thought to be the main reason for the south's secession. Lincoln declared South Carolina's secession illegal and pledged to go to war to protect the federal union in 1861. He authored the Emancipation Proclamation which dealt a severe blow to the institution of slavery in the U.S.. He gave the Gettysburg Address, in which he movingly related the ongoing Civil War to the founding principles of America. At the Battle of Fort Stevens in 1864 Lincol -
Period: to
Civil War
