Did you ever disagree with someone so much that you just couldn’t work it out? The kind of argument where you’re both sure you’re right?
In the early years of the U.S., the Northern and Southern states had that kind of disagreement. It was over slavery.
By 1775, three-fourths of all enslaved Africans in the colonies lived in the South. Plantation owners thought free slave labor was the only way they could work their fields. Some Northerners thought slavery was wrong. Southerners were afraid that Congress would outlaw slavery. That’s because there were more Northern than Southern states in Congress. Many Southerners argued for states’ rights. They said that states should have more power than the national government.
When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the conflict really got started. Lincoln led the Republican Party. It was formed in 1854 to keep slavery from spreading. Southern plantation owners were sure Lincoln would end their way of life. Between Lincoln’s election in November 1860 and his inauguration in March 1861, seven states left the Union. Lincoln wanted to keep the Union together. War was unavoidable.