The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederacy, is a nation set up in 1861 by seven slave states (i.e. states which permitted slavery) of the Lower South that had declared their secession from the United States following the November 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln. The seven states created a "confederacy" in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March. The US government (the Union) rejected secession and the Confederacy as illegal. The "War of Secession" began with the 1861 Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a fort in the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor, which was claimed by both sides. By 1865, after very heavy fighting, largely on Union soil, CSA forces were victorious after Britain was the first to recognise the CSA and assist against the U