Anime temp 3

Abraham Lincoln is defeated by Stephen A. Douglas in 1860, who becomes the 16th president. In the hope of avoiding warfare, President Douglas attempts to reach a compromise with the Southern representatives in Congress. The Manumission Act of 1862 intends to preserve the Union by freeing the slaves over a period of ten years, giving everyone time to adjust. While Douglas heralds the law as another great compromise analogous to the Compromise of 1850, the Southern representatives form the Confederate States of America and begin arming for war. After the outbreak of the American Civil War later that year, Douglas grows fearful of further provoking the South and doesn't introduce conscription as the Confederacy did. Consequently, the professional though much smaller Union Army is overwhelmed and nearly destroyed by the Confederate States Army at the Second Battle of Manassas in Virginia in 1862. It takes the United States over a year to recover from this disaster, creating a period of false peace. Although everyone in the North initially welcomes it, the false peace gives both sides time to build their armies as well as providing an opportunity for the United Kingdom to decide to support the Confederacy with the full backing of the British Empire's diplomacy and trade. Douglas continues to negotiate with the Confederacy in an attempt to reach a compromise, failing to understand that every day lost meant another victory for the South. Lincoln accepts a commission as the commanding general of the Illinois Militia in the Union Army. His own commanding officer was Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant. General Lincoln believes that he would have been able to prevent the war if he had been elected or, failing that, would have shown the kind of decisive leadership of which Douglas is seemingly incapable, built a real army and crushed the Confederacy before they were able to build a large army of their own. Shortly after leading his troops into battle for the first time in 1863, Lincoln was shot and killed by a Confederate sniper while still on horseback.