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| Lincoln’s election in 1860 cast a dark shadow on the Southern states. Despite his position as a moderate, most Southerners viewed him and all Republicans in the North as embittered abolitionists out to destroy Southern culture and heritage. To most Southerners, a slave was simply a biological machine, a piece of property. Even worse, this “property” was believed to be inherently savage and dangerous. Indeed, this fear was prevalent even in the North among many abolitionists. Lincoln’s election as president in 1860 sent a wave of fear and loathing through the Southern states, causing South Carolina to secede and lead other states away from the Union. The website entitled The Ordinance of Secession documents that after declaring, “The union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States under the name of ‘The Constitution of the United States of America’ is hereby dissolved,” she separated on December 20, 1860. Secession had hit the United States like a tidal wave, threatening to engulf and destroy the United States with deadly speed. |
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