Overview
When Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won the election in 1860, Southern states refused to accept him as President because they feared that he would abolish their beloved slavery. Many Southern states seceded from the Union around late 1860 and early 1861. The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 and ended on April 9, 1865. After the South had surrendered, the era of Reconstruction began, then a terrible shock hit Earth. Lincoln had been murdered. He had been assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, due to a plot to overthrow the government on April 14, 1865. The impact of his death was tragic. Millions said good-bye to their beloved president, the first to fall by a assassin's bullet. Even to this day, the affects still live.