The issue of slavery was the main cause of the rift between the Northern and Southern states in the nineteenth century. In 1950 states of South Carolina and Mississippi asked for secession. In the second half when Lincoln became president, this issue became important as the southern cotton economy was based on slave labor. In 1860, 11 states seceded from the USA. They were known as the Confederate States. It existed from 1861 to 1865.
Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought (architecture, sculpture), scientific thought, theatre, literature and philosophy derives from this period of Greek history.
