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xxii Timeline of Events 1860 The Clotilda arrives in Mobile Bay in Alabama, carry- ing a cargo of 110 enslaved Africans. After the slaves are unloaded, Captain William Foster burns the ship to destroy the evidence of his criminal activity. This is the last slave ship to unload in the United States. Abraham Lincoln is elected president. Lincoln, the first Republican president, receives 40 percent of the popu- lar vote and virtually no support from Southern states. In response, South Carolina passes the “Ordinance of Seces- sion” in December and dissolves its connection to the United States. There are 3.9 million slaves in the United States. The United States produces 1.5 billion pounds of cotton. 1861 By February, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Loui- siana, and Texas secede from the Union and join with South Carolina to create the Confederate States of America. In June, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee secede and join the Confederacy. 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Procla- mation freeing slaves in all areas of the rebellious South and authorizes the recruitment of African American soldiers. It goes into effect on January 1. 1865 The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abol- ishes slavery.