When President Abraham Lincoln was elected, many southerners feared that he would undermine their values and interests. Even though they did not think that Lincoln would immediately try to challenge slavery in their states, they wondered what would happen if Republicans remained in power for four, eight, or even twelve years. What would transpire if antislavery positions became more popular not just in the North but also among whites in the South who did not own slaves? In order to avoid becoming a minority in the nation, the southern political leadership opted for its independence. The seven states of the Deep South that were most committed to the cotton economy seceded shortly after Lincoln’s election and before his inauguration. They were led by the most radical pro-slavery state, South Carolina. In their Declaration of the Immediate Causes of Secession, they made it clear that the primary purpose of the new Confederacy was the protection of slave property. Southerners understood their own severance from the Union in the tradition of American independence, but they also believed that they were fighting for the bigger philosophical point that liberty was unsuitable for African Americans.