History Abraham Lincoln Questions Medium
The key events leading to the Civil War were primarily centered around the issue of slavery and its expansion into new territories. Some of the major events include the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and the Dred Scott decision of 1857.
Abraham Lincoln, who became the 16th President of the United States in 1861, responded to these events with a firm stance against the expansion of slavery. He believed that slavery was morally wrong and sought to prevent its spread into new territories. Lincoln's election in 1860 as a Republican candidate, who opposed the expansion of slavery, led to heightened tensions between the North and the South.
After his inauguration, several Southern states, starting with South Carolina, seceded from the Union in protest of Lincoln's election. In response, Lincoln maintained that secession was illegal and that the Union should be preserved. He refused to recognize the seceded states as independent and took measures to assert federal authority.
When Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter in April 1861, Lincoln called for volunteers to suppress the rebellion, marking the beginning of the Civil War. Throughout the war, Lincoln's primary goal was to preserve the Union, rather than to abolish slavery. However, as the war progressed, Lincoln recognized the importance of addressing the issue of slavery to weaken the Confederacy.
In 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in Confederate-held territory were to be set free. This proclamation shifted the focus of the war from solely preserving the Union to also ending slavery. Lincoln's response to the key events leading to the Civil War demonstrated his commitment to preserving the Union and his evolving stance on slavery.