The Declaration Of The United States

The secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860, by a vote of 169-0 was a response to the election of Abraham Lincoln of 1860. Lincoln perceived as an abolitionist wanted to contain slavery rather than ending it. The majority party above the Mason-Dixon line were Republicans and below were primarily Democrats and Republicans were viewed as abolitionists. The election of a Republican threatened the South’s status quo. The primary catalyst for secession was based on slavery. Different social cultures and political beliefs developed due to the South’s intimate and reliant relationship on slavery. Southern whites feared the end of slavery and this paranoia was shared among plantation slave owners and white Yeoman farmers. Southern whites felt that the North were threatening the supposed tranquility of the South. The South’s agrarian economy, honor, and independence were believed to be in danger. Slavery was intertwined with the South’s social, cultural, and economic makeup. As a result of slavery, the South developed a paternalistic culture and racial ideology of white supremacy. The perceived notion that the North was influencing it’s political and social beliefs on the South lead them to believe that secession was the only act of self-preservation. The growing differences between the South and North made it difficult to negotiate. This fear was exaggerated and accelerated the South’s eventual implosion. The South believed that without slavery it would self-destruct and

The controversy over slaves ultimately led to the secession. Abraham Lincoln thinks slavery is wrong and he wants to stop it from spreading. Earlier, he had warned that slavery could separate a nation. In the 1860 election Lincoln is elected, but southerners are worried he will end slavery forever. Southern states start to secede because they are worried. First South Carolina succeeds, then North, Texas, and then Florida too. They give themselves a new name called the Confederate States of America. (Wise...)

The United States would lose its name and stand divided if the Constitution did not bring the thirteen colonies into one body. Within this governing body, fears arise from the difficulty of controlling power in a central government, while still trying to keep unity between the states. Understanding that the United States was formed based on the people’s irritation with the corruption of the control of power in England, the Constitution reassured the people that their freedoms were going to be kept, but it required their trust. The founders of the United States Constitution established a just government through encompassing equal representation, with the people as the foundation, and protecting the injustices that could arise with the misuse of power.

Then on December twentieth, 1860 South Carolina, after a special state assembly, declared that the state would secede from the union. In January to June nine other states joined them; Mississippi

South Carolina then threatened to secede from the union. While Jackson was pro-state’s rights he was against secession. Andrew Jackson threatened to send troops to South Carolina to prevent secession. Thankfully, a compromise proposed by Henry Clay in which tariffs will be reduced over the course of 10 years to which South Carolina agrees.

“The Union was formed for the benefit of all” (Edward Livingston). For South Carolina, the crisis involved both the divisions within the state during the crisis and the apparent isolation of the state as the crisis was resolved. By 1860, the state was more internally united than any other southern state, when South Carolina became the first state to secede. Andrew Jackson was a moderate when it came to these issues. “I rely with equal confidence on your undivided support in my determination to execute the laws-to preserve the Union by all constitutional means-to arrest, if possible, by moderate but firm measures” (Edward Livingston). The nullification crisis made President Jackson almost a hero to many nationalists. However, Southerners were made more mindful of their minority position. The issues of nullification and secession stirred the first motions that would eventually lead to the American Civil

First off, the way they declared secession and proceeded to do so was illegal. To begin with everyday we recite the pledge of allegiance where it states, “one nation, indivisible”. Those southerners recited the same pledge we did and they recited themselves that this union is indivisible. Next, under the constitution of the United States of America secession was and always will be considered illegal because of Article 10 Section 1. In this part of the constitution it was illustrated that, “No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation….”. The southern states obviously did not follow that and violated the constitution they agreed to abide by themselves. When they concurred to join the Union they agreed to join an indivisible nation. Nowhere could they make a complaint worthy enough to try to separate for the states that they agreed to join, but of course they tried to with the controversial subject of slavery.

One of the key factor contributing to the Civil War was States Rights. This refers to the struggle between federal government and individual states over political power. One side argued for greater state’s rights and those arguing felt that the Federal Government needed to have more control over states. The states felt they should have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. Meaning that states had the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional. The federal government denied states this right. When nullification would not work and states felts that they were no longer respected, they moved towards secession from the Union. The southern people were viewed as democratic and depended slaves for the plantations, they were devoted to agriculture and shipped cotton up north and favored low tariffs.

This shows that South Carolina had the right to secede because it was a sovereign state. It also shows how the South should have had the right to decide whether they would want to secede from the country or not. Another example is that when the Southern states joined the Union, it was voluntarily (Appleby et.al 556). “Nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of the union of the states being permanent.” (http:/civilwar.bluegrass.net). This shows that they should have the right to leave the Union if they choose to. They had this right because the South had no bind with the Union stating that they had to stay except for the United States constitution in which the North had already violated. Even though the United States constitution was what they looked at as a contract, the Union already desecrated its’ terms before this dispute. It also shows how the right was their own and the government could not control their choices in staying or not. These reasons and examples show how the South had to right to secede because of various reasons regarding the political state the government was in.

In 1860 the South decided to secede from the Union. The reason that the South decided to secede was because they did not share the same views as the North. The South was in favor for slavery, unlike the North who up the Mason-Dixie Line had begun to gradually ban slavery. The South was more reliant on slavery for plantation matters. The North did not care much for the reasons why the South needed slavery, since they relied on cheap labor. The South had to secede because they would not be getting their slave economy if they stayed in the North. Once Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 the South seceding the Union vas creating their own Confederacy. South Carolina decided to secede for the Union first. Then they dispatched delegates

While delegates from different states described their fear of abolition differently, the consensus was quite clear: secession was the only option for southern states who had no doubt that their “right” to own slaves was under attack. In the Apostles of Disunion, the declarations made by the delegates concerning secession are quoted and analyzed. Contrary to what author Charles Dew had been told growing up, these declarations explicitly describe the ways by which the incursion on slavery was the sole purpose of secession, and imply that any infringement on states’ rights was of lesser importance. This notion is validated by the “declaration of causes” given by Texan delegates, the “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify Secession” given by South Carolinian delegates, and reiterated by Dew’s educated description of the secession conventions.

The election of Lincoln in November 1860 was the final trigger for secession.[74] Efforts at compromise, including the "Corwin Amendment" and the "Crittenden Compromise", failed. Southern leaders feared that Lincoln would stop the expansion of slavery and put it on a course toward extinction. The slave states, which had already become a minority in the House of Representatives, were now facing a future as a perpetual minority in the Senate and Electoral College against an increasingly powerful North. Before Lincoln took office in March 1861, seven slave states had declared their secession and joined together to form the Confederacy.

The issue of secession by the representatives of the South was focused on the influence of the non-slaveholding States, especially in the North and the Western parts of the country to try and abolish the institution of Slavery. The leaders believed that the abolishment of the institution would significantly affect the economic prosperity of the region as the abolishment of the institution of Slavery will reduce the availability of cheap labor from the slaves, and this would make the farmers suffer high production costs. Preston believed that the push for secession was constitutional because it would allow the Government of South Carolina to implement the constitutional provisions, whose implementation have been compromised due to the influence of the non-slaveholding nations.

The Mayflower Compact of 1620, a document based on the Magna Carta of 1215, established what would be the basic laws and morals for the first American Colonists. Colonists were then subjects of the British Monarchy, and expansion to The Americas was beneficial to England’s fast growing empire. The eventual expansion of the thirteen colonies (classified as the Northern, the Middle, and the Southern Colonies) allowed English expansion of trade. However, in 1770, Colonists revolted against England in a sequence of deliberate acts, such as the Tea Act and the Stamp Act, mainly involving unnecessary taxation of Colonists. Rising tensions eventually resulted in a Revolutionary War between England and the Colonies; The Thirteen Colonies won the war. It was the Treaty of Paris (1783) that finally ended all ties with Britain; America would claim its identity as its own.

South Carolina and the other southern states to follow, announced their intentions to leave the Union. They believed that since they voluntarily joined the Union, they could voluntarily withdraw as well.[7] During Lincoln’s attempt to stop the secession, more southern states joined the Confederates, and thus due to, but not only to these political factors, the civil war was slowly induced.