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Answer:

In 1854, the Republican party was founded, mainly on the idea of abolishing slavery. The original Republicans consisted not only of the former Whig party, but also anti-slavery Democrats. The 1860 election resulted in there being a Republican president as well as a Republican majority in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Slave states realized it was only a matter of time before slavery was limited, if not outright abolished. To prevent this, before the Republican president Abraham Lincoln even took office, states began seceding, starting with South Carolina. Altogether, eleven states seceded: seven prior to Lincoln becoming president and four after that. Likewise, seven states seceded prior to the Civil War and four during the war.

When these states seceded, the state governments wrote secession documents where it was stated, many times in fact, that the reason the states were seceding was to preserve slavery. When the Confederacy was formed, and their federal Constitution was written, slavery (or some variation of the word) appeared ten times, whereas the Constitution of the United States at that time did not directly mention slavery at all. In fact, slavery was so important to the Confederacy that states had to allow slavery. If a state didn't allow slavery, even if they believed other states should have the right to allow slavery, that particular state was not allowed to join.

Although it is often said the South was pro-slavery and the North was anti-slavery, there were southerners, like Sam Houston of Texas, who spoke out against slavery and secession and northerners, like Samuel Tilden of New York, who supported slavery and secession.

After the Civil War concluded, Andrew Johnson, who became president following Lincoln's assassination, instituted a Reconstruction plan for a quick reuniting of the states, a plan hated by the anti-slavery Congress. Johnson's plan did not protect free black people and was indifferent towards Black Codes (laws that treated freed people lower than white people). Congress, in their opposition to Johnson, proposed a different form of Reconstruction, known as Radical Reconstruction. This included states having to ratify the 14th Amendment, which allowed everyone to have the same rights and privileges, regardless of the color of their skin. Since Reconstruction had to be passed via law, then Congress's plan was the one that went into effect, and it would usually be because Congress overrode Johnson's vetoes. However, Johnson was able to pardon ex-Confederates as that was not dependent on Congress.