sectional conflict enslavement of those of black African descent primary cause of the American Civil War 1860 election Abraham Lincoln Southern United States secession Confederate States of America Union secession was unconstitutional and illegitimate bombarding Fort Sumter Charleston harbor state military American Civil War states the South
Irreconcilable sectional conflict regarding the enslavement of those of black African descent was the primary cause of the American Civil War. With the 1860 election of Republican Abraham Lincoln, conventions in eleven slave states, all in the Southern United States, declared secession and formed the Confederate States of America, while the remaining states, known as the Union, maintained that secession was unconstitutional and illegitimate. On April 12, 1861, the Confederacy initiated military conflict by bombarding Fort Sumter, a federal garrison in Charleston harbor in South Carolina.
