On February 5, 1778 South Carolina became the first state to ratify the first constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the United States in 1860, in order to form the Confederate States of America, which precipitated the Civil War. The initial battle of this war happened at Fort Sumter, which stands on an island in Charleston harbor. Students from The Citadel fired the first shots of the war at Union troops in Fort Sumter.