An issue that had been left unresolved at the [[Constitutional Convention]] was [[slavery]]. The South's largely agricultural economy depended on slave labor to work its cotton and tobacco plantations. The North was more heavily industrialized, and slavery was outlawed in northern states. After a series of failed compromises, the South broke away to form the [[Confederate States of America]], following the election of President [[Abraham Lincoln]] of the new [[Republican Party]] in the election of 1860. Four long years of war ended in the spring of 1865 with the surrenders of Confederate generals [[Robert E. Lee]] at Appomattox, [[Virginia]] and [[Joseph E. Johnston]] at Durham, [[North Carolina]]. | An issue that had been left unresolved at the [[Constitutional Convention]] was [[slavery]]. The South's largely agricultural economy depended on slave labor to work its cotton and tobacco plantations. The North was more heavily industrialized, and slavery was outlawed in northern states. After a series of failed compromises, the South broke away to form the [[Confederate States of America]], following the election of President [[Abraham Lincoln]] of the new [[Republican Party]] in the election of 1860. Four long years of war ended in the spring of 1865 with the surrenders of Confederate generals [[Robert E. Lee]] at Appomattox, [[Virginia]] and [[Joseph E. Johnston]] at Durham, [[North Carolina]]. |