Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to episode number 24 of our Civil War podcast.

I'm Rich.

I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Thanks for downloading the podcast.

To start things off, we wanted to let you guys know that we'll have a special announcement

for you at the end of the episode. We weren't sure how many of you actually listen to

us prattle on at the close of every show, so we just wanted to give you a heads up now

that after the book recommendation and whatnot, we have a special announcement later on.

And it's nothing bad. No, in fact, it's something good or potentially very good, but anyway,

we'll get to that later.

So in the last show, we talked about the secession of seven slave states in the lower south

between Abraham Lincoln's election in November 1860 and his inauguration on March 4, 1861.

And obviously that time frame is important to keep in mind since that was just the first

wave of secession. After Lincoln takes office and after the bombardment and surrender

of Fort Sumter, there will be another wave of secession as four more slave states withdraw

from the union, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. But we'll cover that second

wave of secession in a future episode.

Also in the last show, we pointed the finger at slavery as the culprit behind the secession

of those initial seven states. Specifically, we think the historical evidence clearly shows

that it was the defense of the institution of slavery that was the root cause of secession.

And we're aware that there are still a lot of folks today who will deny that, but really,

we just don't think they have a leg to stand on if you actually consider the historical

background of the slavery issue. Now, those folks may argue from sentiment or emotion,

...