Less than one quarter of southern families owned slaves in 1861.
Slave-based, mainly cotton raising, enterprises, were so profitable
that slave prices almost doubled in the 1850s. This rendered slaves -
as well as land - out of the reach of everyone but the wealthiest
citizens.
Cotton represented three fifths of all United States exports in 1860.
Southerners, dependent on industrial imports as they were, supported
free trade. Northerners were vehement trade protectionists. The
federal government derived most of its income from custom duties.
Income tax and corporate profit tax were yet to be invented.
The states seceded one by one, following secession conventions and
state-wide votes. The Confederacy (Confederate States of America) was
born only later. Not all the constituents of the Confederacy seceded
at once. Seven - the "core" - seceded between December 20, 1860 and
February 1, 1861. They were: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.
Another four - Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas -
joined them only after the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861.
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