December 20, 1860; This was the date South Carolina succeeded from the union. This was the start of many events leading up to the Battle of Fort Sumter and the Civil War. There were many differences between the North and South preceding the the Civil War. Firstly there were major social and economic differences between the North and South. Southern economy was primarily agricultural and was heavily dependent on slave labor, the North however had an industrial economy. This meant the south was focused on plantation life while the north had more of a city centered life. This change in society meant that people in the North worked with people of many cultures and classes while the south remained very segregated.Another
big difference that led to the south succeeding was the fight between slave
states in the south and non-slave states in the north. After the Louisiana Purchase
a law was made that stated any state to join the union that was above the
Missouri line was to be a free state and anything below that state line was to
be a free state. This led to a race between southern plantation owners and
northern abolitionists to claim any new territories in the U.S. this also led
to much fighting between the two sides. An example of this is when the two sides
were trying to claim Kansas which was a territory at the time, there was so
much fighting here the territory was nicknamed “Bleeding Kansas”. All of this
came to a head in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was elected president. The south
believed Lincoln was anti-slavery and supported the north. Lincoln being
elected prompted several states to succeed from the union joining the seven
states that had already done so.