Two -
Kentucky and Missouri - seceded but were controlled by the Union's
army throughout the war. Maryland and Delaware were slave states but
did not secede.
President James Buchanan who preceded Abraham Lincoln, made clear that
the federal government would not use force to prevent secession.
Secession was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court only in
1869 (in Texas vs. White) - four years after the Civil War ended. New
England almost seceded in 1812, during the Anglo-American conflict, in
order to protect its trade with Britain.
The constitution of the Confederacy prohibited African slave trade
(buying slaves from Africa), though it allowed interstate trade in
slaves. The first Confederate capital was in Montgomery, Alabama - not
in Richmond, Virginia. The term of office of the Confederate president
- Jefferson Davis was the first elected - was six years, not four as
was the case in the Union.
Fort Sumter was not the first attack of the Confederacy on the Union.
It was preceded by attacks on 11 forts and military installations on
Confederate territory.
Lincoln won only 40 percent of the popular vote in 1860.
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