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Slavery was first introduces into the colonies in 1619 in Virginia. In the War of Independence, the first strong anti-slavery feeling bore results: the New England states and the Middle colonies abolished slavery. The admission to the Union of slave-holding territories in the Mississippi Valley threatened the balance of power between the slave-holding south and the free Northern states. Violent anti-slavery agitation in the North, and fear in the Southern states that their economic and social system, which was dependent on slave labour, was to be destroyed, finally brought about the secession of the Southern states after the election of Lincoln.
The Union of the 23 Northern states under President Lincoln was superior in manpower and equipment. The southern Confederacy under its own president numbered only 13 states and was highly outnumbered.
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