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.
Yet in his first inaugural address, Lincoln declared that he had âno purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists.â He reiterated this pledge in his first message to Congress on July 4, 1861, when the Civil War was three months old.