Many southerners felt Lincoln's election was the end of the southern way of life as they knew it (Schultz, 2013). In Lincoln's campaign speeches, he actually affirmed the right of the states. Southerners believed the Republican would amend the Constitution and outlaw slavery everywhere if all the western territories became free states. Per Schultz(2013), "Many southerners believed it would be better to leave the Union before the horrors of abolition were inflicted upon them" ( p. 247). Economics, westward expansion, political breakdown, and an enraged populace were the four major reasons that slavery plunged the nation into civil war in 1861. South Carolina was the first state that voted to withdraw from the Union on December 20, 1860 (Schultz, 2013). Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, known as the Deep South, followed suit and withdrew from the Union over the next six weeks. The Confederate States of America was established on February 7, 1861; Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected as the new nation's first president. The driving force behind the movement was the planter class. In the winter of 1860 to 1861, the Upper South which consists of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Kentucky chose not to secede. An actual battle would take place for them to pick sides. …show more content…
Crittenden proposed an unsuccessful comprise is which all land north of line would be free and all land south of it would be open to slavery. The Deep South had no interest in returning to the union. Lincoln tried to find a middle ground by reassuring southerners that he would not interfere with slavery in the states where it already existed. Lincoln maintained that no state could withdraw from the Union as it was ceaseless. The southern state where left with two choices: either return to the Union or face civil