Fragile Freedom

The lines were being drawn. Abraham Lincoln had been elected the 16th President of the United States. Whatever concessions, whatever favor the South might have found under the Administration of James Buchanan, they knew it was quickly drawing to a close as the March Inauguration of the Republican from Illinois fast approached. South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama had already seceded from the Union. They would not suffer a man who would deprive them of their slaves. To them slavery was more than an economic institution, though their prosperity could not long stand without it, it was a moral one as well. Yet these four states that had since left were not the only states that relied on brutal subjugation for financial security and stability and soon, they knew other states would join their cause. On January 19th, 1861 Georgia would be the fifth state to hear that call, declaring, “that the union now existing between the State of Georgia and other States under the name of the United States of America