GU. An unincorporated territory of the United States, the largest and most southerly of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. Inhabited since ancient times by the Chamorro people, Guam was visited by Magellan in 1521 and ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898. Agana is the capital.
The Republican victory in that election resulted in seven Southern states declaring their secession from the Union even before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. Both the outgoing and incoming U.S. administrations rejected secession, regarding it as rebellion.
Video: Secession of the Southern States: Causes & Timeline. In this lesson, we will explore the secession of the 11 states that made up the Confederate States of America. We will discover their reasons for leaving the Union and take a look at the motives of the slave states that chose not to join the Confederacy.