when did the us split into north and south
American Civil War The American Civil War (commonly known as the Civil War in the United States) was fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The result of a long-standing controversy over slavery, war broke out in April 1861, when Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, shortly after President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated. The nationalists of the Union proclaimed loyalty to the U.S. Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States of America, who advocated for states' rights to travel with slave attendants in the Americas or abolished tariffs on cotton and imports.