<p>April 11, 2026</p><p>On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on South Carolina’s Fort Sumter, South Carolina had left the Union the previous December, When Abraham Lincoln took office in March, 1861, seven Southern states had left the Union, forming their own provisional government,  The Confederate government rested on the belief that Black men are not equal to white men, Northerners rejected the white southerners’ attempt to destroy the principles of the Declaration of Independence, After the attack on Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for troops to put down the rebellion against the government, The Civil War would take hundreds of thousands of lives at huge cost, But by its end, the institution of human enslavement was destroyed.</p><p>Watch today's recording here: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-">https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-</a></p><p>Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: <a target="_blank" href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe">https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe</a></p><p>You can also find me:</p><p>Bluesky: <a target="_blank" href="https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social">https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social</a></p><p>Instagram: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en">https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en</a></p><p>Facebook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/">https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/</a></p><p>YouTube: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson">https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson</a></p><p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Letters from an American at <a href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe</a>