The Civil War Begins

Based on the information in the map, what role did the Election of 1860 play in the outbreak of the Civil War?

• It caused a split in Southern Democrats in their support for Lincoln

• It indicated that many non-slaveholders in the South supported Lincoln.

• It confirmed that Southern states feared the election of Lincoln would bring about the end of slavery

• It showed that slave owners in the West viewed Lincoln as one who would protect slavery.

Which headline would have MOST likely been published immediately following this event?

• Lincoln elected 16th president of the US

• Lincoln issues call for military enlistment

• Supreme Court rules on the Constitution of Slavery

• Confederate States of American is established

What was the significance of the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861?

• It caused the Confederacy to have a naval advantage over the Union.

• It guaranteed that Lincoln would be elected president.

• It influenced Lincoln to propose a peace agreement to avoid war.

• It started the Civil War and caused Lincoln to call for troops.

How was Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 presidential election a turning point in American history?

• Lincoln won the majority of electoral votes but not a majority of the popular vote.

• A coalition of Whigs, Know-Nothings, and Democrats ran a strong third-party candidate.

• The Crittenden Compromise attempted to resolve tensions aroused by the election.

• Lincoln’s victory prompted Southern secession and the Civil War that followed.

I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual . . . . It follows . . . that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void; and that acts of violence, within any State or States, against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.

—Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, 1861

In this excerpt, Abraham Lincoln expressed his opposition to what argument made by many Southerners?

• States had the right to secede from the Union

• The federal government had supported slave rebellions.

• A convention should be held to rewrite the Constitution.

• Supreme Court decisions supporting nullification should be upheld.