Eighty-five years after its founding, the United States was breaking up. The conflicting sectional views of the American dream could no longer be reconciled. For years southern states had been threatening to withdraw from the Union unless the federal government agreed to protect slavery and other sectional interest, such as a low tariff. Southern threats regarding secession were answered by northern claims that their views on liberty and government were supported by tranditional American principles. Before the election South Carolina had stated that it would withdraw from the Union if Lincoln were elected. On December 20, 1860, it carried out its threat. By unanimous vote, the South Carolina legislature declared that “the Union... between this State and the other States of North America is dissolved.” Within a few weeks, six more states—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas—followed South Carolina’s path. In February 1861, delegates from these states met in Montgomery, Alabama, agreed to establish the Confederate States of America, and adopted a constitution for the new nation. In his inaugural address, Lincoln was both conciliatory and firm. He stated that the federal government had no right to interfere with slavery in the states. He said that he would even support a constitutional amendment reaffirming the right of states to have slavery. But he also stated that he meant to carry out the laws of the United States and to keep control over federal property in the seceded southern states.