![]() ![]() The threat posed by the Republican victory in the election of 1860 spurred eleven southern states to leave the Union to form the Confederate States of America, a new republic dedicated to maintaining and expanding slavery. Meanwhile, southern leaders suspected that Republican abolitionists would employ the violent tactics of John Brown to deprive southerners of their slave property. The Republican Party committed itself to keeping slavery out of the territories as the country expanded westward, a position that shocked southern sensibilities. Indeed, the Republican president-elect appeared to be their worst nightmare. With Lincoln’s election, they prepared to make good on their threats. ![]() ![]() Throughout the tumultuous 1850s, the Fire-Eaters of the southern states had been threatening to leave the Union. The 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln was a turning point for the United States. (credit “1865”: modification of work by “Alaskan Dude”/Wikimedia Commons) ![]()
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