The Civil War (Fourth Turning, 1860–1865) began with a presidential election that many southerners interpreted as an invitation to secede. The attack on Fort Sumter triggered the most violent conflict ever fought on New World soil. The war reached its climax in the Emancipation Proclamation and Battle of Gettysburg (in 1863). Two years later, the Confederacy was beaten into bloody submission and Lincoln was assassinated—a grim end to a crusade many had hoped would “trample out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.”

• The first Transcendentals entering elderhood
• The first Gilded entering midlife
• The first Progressives entering young adulthood
• The first Missionaries entering childhood