The document summarizes the key events leading up to the start of the American Civil War. It explains that the Northern and Southern states had economic divisions, with the North industrializing and the South relying on plantation agriculture and slavery. When Abraham Lincoln was elected as president in 1860, Southern states began seceding from the Union out of fears that slavery would be abolished. By February 1861, seven Southern states had seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter in South Carolina, marking the start of the Civil War between the Union and Confederacy.

1. The Civil War Beginnings

2. The North railroads factories many cities

3. The South plantations slavery

5. Why do you think slavery was important to Southerners?

9. What purchase did the U.S. make in 1803?

10. When the U.S. gained territories they would eventually be divided into states. The U.S. Congress had not decided if slavery would be legal in these new states.

13. What does secede mean?

14. By February of 1861, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas had seceded. They formed a new nation called the Confederate States of America.

15. 4. One by one, seven southern states seceded from the Union. To protect the right to own slaves, they joined together as the Confederate States of America, also called the Confederacy.

16. 5. Secede means to reject the government of the United States and leave the Union. 6. Confederates are supporters of the Confederacy, especially soldiers in the Confederate army.

17. The Confederate leaders elected Jefferson Davis as their president. In March of 1861 he asked for Southern men to volunteer for the Confederate Army.