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Northern states generally opposed slavery whereas the South needed slaves to drive their economy. The disagreement over the issues of slavery in the territories and popular sovereignty ultimately led to such incidents as Bleeding Kansas following the passage of the infamous Kansas-Nebraska Act. It was around this time (1854) that the Republican Party was established and quickly came into power. In the election of 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, but did not receive a single electoral vote from the Southern states. Outraged that the President could be selected without a bit of Southern support infuriated the South, so South Carolina seceded and was followed by 6 other states. (The Southern states also, they all preferred state rights over federal power, a premise clearly not granted by the Republican government.) Following secession, Lincoln refused to acknowledge the Confederate states as anything but United States territory, so he was very careful not to make a declaration of war. Following South Carolina's seizure of Fort Sumter in Charleston's harbor, military tension mounted and skirmishes at sites such as Bull Run/Manassas ensued, kicking off a Civil War.

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7y ago

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