GU. An unincorporated territory of the United States, the largest and most southerly of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. Inhabited since ancient times by the Chamorro people, Guam was visited by Magellan in 1521 and ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898. Agana is the capital.
The Republican victory in that election resulted in seven Southern states declaring their secession from the Union even before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. Both the outgoing and incoming U.S. administrations rejected secession, regarding it as rebellion.
War became inevitable after several Southern states seceded fromâor leftâthe Union. The first state to secede was South Carolina, on December 20, 1860. Ten other Southern states eventually seceded, joining with South Carolina to form the Confederate States of America.