Secession and the Founding of the Confederacy
Also called: Confederate States of America, Confederacy, Secession of South Carolina
Beginning with South Carolina, seven Southern states left the Union and in February 1861 founded the Confederate States of America at Montgomery, choosing Jefferson Davis as president.
Charleston Mercury · Public domain · Source
On 20 December 1860 a South Carolina convention at Charleston voted unanimously to leave the Union. By 1 February 1861 Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas had followed. Meeting at Montgomery, Alabama, in February, they drew up a provisional constitution and chose Jefferson Davis as president; he was inaugurated on 18 February.
The Confederate constitution explicitly protected slavery. In his inaugural address of 4 March Lincoln declared secession void but promised not to strike first. After Fort Sumter, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee joined, making eleven states, and the capital moved to Richmond in May. The slave states that stayed in the Union — Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Delaware — were called the border states.