Vermont in the American Civil War Vermont in the American Civil War During the American Civil War, the State of Vermont continued the military tradition started by the Green Mountain Boys of American Revolutionary War fame, contributing a significant portion of its eligible men to the war effort. The second article in Vermont's constitution, originally written in 1777, abolished slavery, making it the first state to do so. Although its climate was not conducive to the slave trade, Vermonters were early participants in the abolitionist movement. In the 1860 presidential election, Vermont gave Republican Abraham Lincoln a lopsided victory, 33,808 votes compared to 8,649 for Stephen
Slavery in the United States and for the economy that drew its greatest profits from the labor of people who were not paid. The slave owners also argued that banning slavery in new states would upset what they saw as a delicate balance of free states and slave states. They feared that ending this balance could lead to the domination of the federal government by the northern free states. This led seven southern states to secede from the Union. When the southern forces attacked a US Army installation at Fort Sumter, the American Civil War began and four additional slave states seceded. Northern leaders had