Read this passage from a letter written by Abraham Lincoln.

“We have just carried an election on principles fairly stated to the people. Now we are told in advance, the government shall be broken up, unless we surrender to those we have beaten . . . If we surrender, it is the end of us, and of the government.”

–Abraham Lincoln
Letter to Senator J. T. Hale
January 11, 1861

In this passage, Lincoln expresses concern about

the secession of several Southern states.

the splintering of the Democratic Party.

Confederate troops firing on Fort Sumter.

the formation of a new state, West Virginia.