2.  Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860. South Carolina was afraid he would free their slaves  South Carolina secedes from the Union.  Secede – to break away

3.  Lincoln wanted to stop the spread of slavery but he wasn’t an abolitionist  He did not advocate ending slavery in the South.

4.  South Carolina and the rest of the South wanted to hold onto their way of life that was based on slavery. They defended their decision to secede from the union with the argument of states’ rights.

5.  As a result of the election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the US, a Secession Convention was held in Columbia, then moved to Charleston.

6.  Almost all members voted to secede Or no longer be a part of the US  SC was the first state to secede from the Union SC seceded before Lincoln was elected.

7.  Soon other states joined SC and formed a new country, the Confederate States of America.  They wrote a constitution and elected Jefferson Davis as president.

8.  The Confederacy formed an army to take over forts and other property located in the South that belonged to the national government.

9.  The Confederate government ordered the Union soldiers to leave Fort Sumter located in Charleston harbor.  The US army refused.

10.  Lincoln wouldn’t recognize the Confederate split from the Union and sent supplies to the federal troops at Fort Sumter.  Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter before the supply ships could arrive.

11.  The bombardment continued until the Union troops surrendered.  Federal troops were allowed to leave peacefully but the Civil War had begun