On November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States -- an ... Many poor southern whites became disillusioned during the course of the war. Wealthy planters had been ...

During the three months between his election ... Alabama they formed a new government called the Confederate States of America.

More from Wes about the causes of the Civil War. What led to the outbreak ... A key issue was states' rights. The Southern states wanted to assert their authority over the federal government ...

Even the classic Civil War-set movie "Gone with the ... produced on plantations across the southern states. During the war, blockade-running vessels carried arms across the Atlantic from Liverpool.

It began only months after Southern states seceded from the Union ... Click here to see which states had the most battles during the Civil War.