Question

After the election of 1860, the Southern states secede because ________.

• A. They were attacked
• B. The tariff was too high
• C. They wanted to preserve slavery
• D. Virginia encouraged them
• E. They had lost Missouri

Answer 1

The correct option is C They wanted to preserve slavery

To maintain slavery, slave states had to expand to the west or become a minority in both the Houses of the U.S. Congress. When Lincoln was elected, it was clear they could not expand enough to maintain parity with the North. Missouri was in dispute all through the Civil War and Virginia was supposedly reluctant to secede. The tariff was an issue in the 1830's not in the 1860's.