10-day forecast. 1  Weather News. 2  Dangerous surf will threaten some beachgoers this weekend AccuWeather. 3  Big Sur usually canât keep people away.  Several states at risk of hail, floods during stormy Easter weekend AccuWeather.
Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught Illinois lawyer, legislator and opponent of slavery, was elected president in November 1860âbut by the time of his inauguration in March 1861, seven Southern states had seceded, and the Civil War began a few weeks later.
Many factors contributed to the beginning of the Civil War, most notably the divisive issue of whether or not slavery would be allowed in the territories of the United States. At the time, the United States was rapidly expanding westward, and the newly-elected President Lincoln vowed that the newly-acquired land would not allow slavery.