Southern states that seceded immediately after Lincoln's election in 1860 did so because they had already been planning it in the event of a Republican victory. Their motivation involved what they perceived as a threat to the institution of slavery, which their economy was dependent upon. However, their secession was not the result of a quick decision. The volatile situation had been building for decades.
As the United States developed economically after independence, it evolved into two sections. The north built industries founded upon free labor, while the south formed an agrarian culture dependent upon the toil of slaves. In the free states of the north, a movement for abolition, or the elimination of slavery, began. This was anathema in the south, where abolition threatened not only the source of labor but also the social system.
A statesman named John C. Calhoun argued eloquently for the protection of the plantation system and its slave labor in the south, suggesting succession as a possible solution. However, he died in 1850 when the dilemma was still unresolved. As new territories became states and were added to the Union, questions arose as to whether they should be free states or slave states. Calhoun, for instance, strenuously opposed the admission of California as a free state. When the issue arose of whether Kansas should be a slave state or free state, violence ensued as the two factions fought it out, and the territory became known as Bleeding Kansas.
In 1856, democrat James Buchanan was elected president. Although he opposed slavery, he felt that it was protected by the US Constitution, so he attempted to keep the peace between anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions. Southern slave states warned that they would secede, though, if the 1860 presidential election was won by a Republican.
Lincoln personally was opposed to slavery, but upon his election he initially reassured the southern states that he had no intention of abolishing the institution. It was too late, though, because several states had already made their decisions. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, seven states had already seceded from the Union. These were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.
The election of 1860 was a pivotal year in our history. Seven southern states seceded from the Union immediately after the election of Abraham Lincoln.
The South was convinced that President Lincoln was going to end slavery. While President Lincoln was against slavery and thought it was morally wrong, he never said he would end slavery. He made it very clear that he didn’t want slavery to spread and would work to see that slavery didn’t spread. President Lincoln said if he could save the Union by keeping slavery where it already existed, he would do that. Saving the Union was his top priority.
However, the South didn’t trust President Lincoln to keep his word. They were convinced he would end slavery. The South was also concerned about what would happen to slavery and the rights of slave-owners if more and more...
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free states entered the union. They were concerned that the voices in support of slavery would become a minority voice. The South was also concerned how their way of life would be altered if Lincoln ended slavery. They couldn't imagine a society without slavery. Thus, when Lincoln won the election, seven southern states seceded from the Union. Eventually, four other southern states also left the Union. The election of 1860 was a critical election in our history.
Within five months of Lincoln's election, the United States was divided and embattled in a horrendous Civil War. Many southern states had seceded from the United States and formed the Confederacy within weeks of Lincoln's election.
Lincoln won the election with no southern support because of his stance on slavery. For years the north and south had disagreed over the issue of the right to own slaves. With a new president so strongly opposed to slavery, the South believed that their way of life was in immediate danger of being terminated. With no slaves to work the massive plantations and nowhere near the technology and factories of the north, the south, they feared, was doomed. They dissolved their union with the United States through a voting process that approved secession one by one. This protected their right to have the slaves who maintained the plantations on which their economy depended.
South Carolina was the first to secede. Within three months of Lincoln's election, seven states in all had followed suit and seceded. The Confederacy formed and began to create an armed force.
Some Southern states seceded right after Lincoln was elected because they felt that his election showed that they and their way of life were doomed.
Lincoln had been elected even though he had not even been on the ballot in most Southern states. The fact that he could get elected with no Southern support scared the Southern states. When his election was made official, they felt that it was simply a prelude to the North trying to abolish slavery everywhere in the United States.
Southern states seceded after Lincoln's election, then, because they felt that his election showed they had no power in the USA and that the North would soon destroy their way of life that centered around slavery.