Secession of the South: 1860
The beginning of the Secession of the South began on November 6th, 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, representing the Republican Party. In the election Lincoln carried all of the free-states in the north and none of the slave-states in the south. Three days after Lincoln was elected, on November 10, 1860, a Convention of the People of South Carolina was called to be held on December 17th, 1860 in order to draw up an Ordinance of Secession. South Carolina adopted a declaration "that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." South Carolina had threatened secession before in 1828 when the South Carolina Exposition was published. Secession of the South: The Southern States
Eleven Southern states were part of the Secession of the South. The First State to Secede was South Carolina. Six other states of the Deep South soon joined South Carolina in their secession of the United States consisting of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Secession of the first seven states, that formed the Confederate States of America, took place before Abraham Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. The four border states from the Upper South were then admitted to the Confederacy resulting in the secession of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee soon followed. The Confederate States of America later accepted two additional states as members, Missouri and Kentucky, as members of the Confederacy although neither state officially declared secession nor were they ever controlled by Confederate forces. Secession of the South: The Flag of the Confederacy
The acceptance of Missouri and Kentucky brought the secession total to thirteen states and this number is reflected in the Flag of the Confederacy commonly referred to as the "Southern cross", "Confederate Flag" or the "Rebel Flag" and has become a widely recognized symbol of the South and explains the significance of the 13 stars displayed on the Saint Andrew's Cross. Secession of the South: Timeline
The dates of Secession of the southern dates, in order of secession shown on the timeline, were as follows: | Secession | Secession Timeline Dates | | 1 | South Carolina | December 20, 1860 | | 2 | Mississippi | January 9, 1861 | | 3 | Florida | January 10, 1861 | | 4 | Alabama | January 11, 1861 | | 5 | Georgia | January 19, 1861 | | 6 | Louisiana | January 26, 1861 | | 7 | Texas | March 2, 1861 | | 8 | Virginia | April 17, 1861 | | 9 | Arkansas | May 6, 1861 | | 10 | North Carolina | May 20, 1861 | | 11 | Tennessee | June 8, 1861 | | Secession | Secession Timeline Dates |
| Secession Map 
Seceding States Map |
Causes and Reasons for Secession of the South: The Constitution and States Rights
The Causes and Reasons of the Secession of the South were dominated by the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the land, and whether secession from the Union was legal. The Constitution: The republican Party of the north, led by Abraham Lincoln believed that the nation was a union and could not be divided The Constitution: The Southerners believed that states had freely created and joined the union as a a sovereign state and could freely leave it
The wording of the Constitution is somewhat ambiguous but there is no evidence that secession was illegal or prohibited by the Constitution and that, in fact, secession was a legal, constitutionally sanctioned act. The southerners therefore believed that states, being sovereign, had the legal right to withdraw from the voluntary union with the United States of America. However the 1833 Force Bill publicly denied the right of secession to individual states. The Northerners believed that the Constitution created a sovereign and inviolable union and that withdrawal from that union was impossible. The issues surrounding the subject of sovereign states had raged for years. Compromise measures such as the 1820 Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 had been adopted but were merely delays in resolving whether the states or the federal government was to possess sovereignty. Causes and Reasons for Secession of the South
The Causes and Reasons of the Secession of the South were: Causes and Reasons for Secession of the South | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 1: | Economy: The northern economy was based on industry, the southern economy on agriculture. The invention of the Eli Whitney Cotton Gin had re-invigorated slavery in the southern states | | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 2: | Culture Clash: The culture of the northerners was focused on industrialization and life in the city, the culture in the south was based on farming and the plantation cash crop system | | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 3: | The protective tariffs were seen as measures that severely damaged the Southern economy (refer to the 1832 Nullification Crisis) leading states to believe that they were no longer respected, moving Southerners closer towards secession | | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 4: | The Abolitionist Movement had gained in momentum and in northern support | | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 5: | States Rights: Tension across the nation increased with the passing of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act which created two new territories that would allow the states to use Popular Sovereignty to determine whether they would be free-states or slave-states | | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 6: | Violent confrontations between Anti-slavery and Pro-slavery militant activists had reached a state of a low intensity civil war known as Bleeding Kansas | | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 7: | The result of the Dred Scott Decision was that Congress could not prohibit slavery from spreading into the western territories which had angered Northern anti-slavery groups but been applauded by the Southern states | | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 8: | The events surrounding John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry aroused anger in both the North and the South | | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 9: | Abolitionist Abraham Lincoln had been elected president representing the Anti-Slavery Republican Party | | | | | Causes and Reasons Fact 10: | Attempts at compromise solutions such as the Crittenden Compromise and the Corwin Amendment had failed, the Union disintegrated and the Secession of the South began | Causes and Reasons for Secession of the South |
Secession of the South: The Seven States join the Confederacy
The seven states that had chosen the option of secession entered the Confederacy on February 8, 1861 ending their declared status as independent states and republics. Secession of the South: The Republic of South Carolina
The Republic of South Carolina was declared when the State of South Carolina declared its secession from the United States of America on December 20, 1860. South Carolina entered the confederacy on February 8, 1861 and was readmitted to the Union on July 9, 1868. Secession of the South: The Republic of Mississippi
The Republic of Mississippi was declared when the State of Mississippi declared its secession from the United States of America on January 9, 1861. Mississippi entered the confederacy on February 8, 1861 and was readmitted to the Union on February 23, 1870 Secession of the South: The Republic of Florida
The Republic of Florida was declared when the State of Florida declared its secession from the United States of America on January 10, 1861. Florida entered the confederacy on February 8, 1861 and was readmitted to the Union on June 25, 1868. Secession of the South: The Republic of Alabama
The Republic of Alabama was declared when the State of Alabama declared its secession from the United States of America on January 11, 1861. Alabama entered the confederacy on February 8, 1861 and was readmitted to the Union on July 13, 1868. |
