When Examining The Roots Of The South’S Secession From

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

Four years after the Wilmot Proviso was denied of passage in the Senate, Southerner, John C Calhoun delivered a speech to congress. Calhoun spoke to congress about the addition of California to the US. Because of values of Manifest Destiny, it was in a way a dream of the US to add California. However, according to Calhoun, it had be a slave state. He wanted this because he was a southerner and the more slave states there were, the better. Also, as he says in source B, that if t California was to be added as a free state, then the balance, or “equilibrium”, would be thrown off in the Union. There would be more free states than slave states. In order to keep the balance, he advocated California to be a slave state. Conflicts between parts of government over slavery, like Wilmot and Calhoun, only continued the schism in the nation and set the US on the path of the Civil War.

Calhoun once strongly supported the tariff of 1816, but around the 1820's he concluded that the tariff was responsible for the stagnation of the state's economy. Although, the real cause was because of the exhaustion of South Carolina's farmland. Many tired Carolinian's started to consider secession as a fix for that problem. With Calhoun's future political hopes residing on how he met this challenge, Calhoun developed the theory on nullification. The theory of nullification stated that any state had the right to nullify, or discredit any federal law which that state found unconstitutional. Calhoun got some of his ideas for nullification from Jefferson and Madison and citing the Tenth Amendment from the constitution. Calhoun argued since the federal government was a creation of the states, the states were the final decision makers when it came down to the constitutionally of federal laws. If a state decided that Congress or the courts had passed an unconstitutional law, then the state could hold a convention and declare that law null and void within the state. The nullification doctrine, and the intention of using it to nullify the tariff of 1828 rapidly attracted the attention and support of South Carolina's

Tensions between the North and South had grown steadily since the anti slavery movement in 1830. Several compromises between the North and South regarding slavery had been passed such as the Nebraska-Kansas and the Missouri act; but this did little to relieve the strain. The election of President Lincoln in 1861 proved to be the boiling point for the South, and secession followed. This eventually sparked the civil war; which was viewed differently by the North and the South. The Northern goal was to keep the Union intact while the Southern goal was to separate from the Union. Southern leaders gave convincing arguments to justify secession. Exploring documents from South Carolina’s secession ordinance and a speech from the Georgia

The compromise of 1850 was a settlement on a series of issues plaguing the unity of the states. The primary issue to address was the institution of slavery, which was causing much dissension between the north and the south. Additional items to be addressed were territory issues and to prevent secession by the south. Henry Clay stepped forward to present a compromise, which had Congress in an eight-month discussion known as the “Great Debate”. As a result of the proposal, there were strong oppositions. One outspoken person who opposed the proposal was John C Calhoun. Calhoun was an intellectual southern politician, political philosopher and a proponent to the protection of Southern interests. He was an advocate for states’ rights and

Why did the Southern states separate from the Union? In the 1850’s Southern States had different views of the Union. In the 1850’s Northern states and Southern states had a lot of differences. Southern states were adamant about having slavery and Northern states thought slavery was appalling and terrible and that it should be abolished.The two states also fought over economic differences because the North made a living based on factories and the South made a living based on slaves. They also fought over government power, the South thought they deserved more power than the Federal Government. Therefore it led to the Civil War. Southern States seceded from the Union because of slavery, economic differences and issues over government power.

The first major reason of the civil war stems from Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech. Lincoln gives warning to the growing rift between the North and the South, the Anti-Slavery and the Pro-Slavery groups, as evidence in ‘I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.’ Although the antagonism and eagerness of protecting the Union is not shown as prominently as future speeches, we can find a hint of caution in his tone. He goes on to support his claims through the hodgepodge of legislation that is the ‘Nebraska Doctrine’ and the legal crisis of the Dred Scott court case. He politely refers to this as ‘squabble’ and speak of the controversy and moral implication that they have caused. For his part, it is easy to see the insinuation of the speech- he believed slavery was immoral and was wholly incompatible with the principles of the Declaration of Independence embodied in the phrase

In order to answer the question he remarks that it is necessary to know all that can be gathered about the issue. To this he also proposes that Congress examine what is endangering the Union. His belief on the matter rests with the South and their state of discontent. While some might believe that unhappiness of the South lies with those who stirred the public for their own personal advantage, he however sees the opposite that the politicians tried to settle the masses. Even if the politicians excited the South it would not have been enough to cause the wide spread of discontent. Calhoun believes that the true source lies with the southern states thinking they cannot remain in the Union without compromising their pride and security. The cause of this thinking, Calhoun believes, stems from the North imposing its views of slavery on the South. He also believed that the thinking of the South was due to the minority in the National government. He goes on to site the wide discrepancies between the numbers of senators and representatives who represent the North and those that represent the South. He adds that the gap will only widen in the coming year, because

In this speech, his last address to the Senate, Calhoun decries the Missouri Compromise and warns of a disruption in the Union if the Southern states were not given full and permanent protection to continue their institutions – namely slavery. He understood with precise clarity that if anti-slavery thought spread throughout the North, then it would only be a matter of time before Civil War erupted between the North and South. A lot of his speech focuses on the incompatibility of the Northern and Southern views on slavery, and suggests that if the South cannot gain equal protection for their slavery system, then the Union should separate into two nations. Clearly stating that " abolition and the Union cannot

Just as Northerners saw flaws in the Constitution, Southerners viewed it not to be perfect as well. President James Buchanan, a northern man with southern sympathies clarified, “As sovereign states, they and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them” (Document G). However, In Doc B, an anonymous writer defends the state’s rights that the constitution should protect slavery where it exists. The union will fall apart unless these rights are protected.

Southern secession? I cannot think of something more ridiculous. The way it was handled and the reasons were just flat out disgraceful. It all started with South Carolina is 1860 and it was all about slavery and states rights.

The Northern and Southern states began to feel divided because of their regional differences. The main reason for their regional differences was of slavery. When Missouri requested for statehood in 1820 as a slave state, it caused trouble between the north and south because it would it tip the balance of the senate in the South’s favor because there was eleven free states and eleven slave states in the senate. As a compromise, Henry Clay proposed that Missouri enter as a slave state, Maine enters as a free state, and prohibit slavery in the Louisiana Territory above the 36˚30’. The Missouri Compromise greatly increased sectionalism in the South. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams supported the compromise, but he expressed that it only fixed the issue temporarily because slavery isn’t a resolvable issue unless the whole union is free of slavery. Adams implies to himself in his diary that he knows in the future that slavery would further separate the north and south but for now it maintained peace in the union (Document 5). Document 6 agrees with Document 5 because Thomas Jefferson says that increased compromise and putting off the issue of slavery will only increase sectionalism because it will lead to deeper hatred between the North and South. But the document shows bias as well because Jefferson is a slave owner himself and knows slavery is wrong but he

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.

South Carolina also accused the Northern states of instigating “a war [that would] be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States,” (South Carolina) through the election of Abraham Lincoln as president. In Georgia’s declaration of secession, the reasons for secession are cited as “numerous and serious causes of complaint” (Georgia) against the non-slave holding states that were centered on “the subject of African slavery” (Georgia). In Mississippi, the consensus in the same; Mississippi’s position in the issue “[was] thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery” (Mississippi) and goes to list many reasons pertaining to slavery for its secession, most notably 1) The North “has made combinations and formed associations to carry out its schemes of emancipation” (Mississippi), 2) “has nullified the Fugitive Slave Law in almost every free State in the Union” (Mississippi), and 3) “advocates negro equality” (Mississippi). For these as well as other reasons all pertaining to slavery, the Confederate States seceded from the Union. In the Southern States, as seen through the declarations of secession from the Confederate States, the people, along with the governments of those states all supported secession based on issues arising from the conflict over slavery.

For President Lincoln, he sought to preserve and protect the union. He felt that a divided America would fall and fail if they weren’t united ,“my opinion is that no state can, in any way lawfully, get out of the Union, without the consent of the others; and that it is the duty of the President, and other government functionaries to run the machine as it is.” (Lincoln) The states had made numerous attempts to resolve one of the major issues that were threatening the union and that issue was Slavery. It was becoming hard to resolve arising issues having separate laws for states only lead to further division. Abraham Lincoln stated, “We are in civil war. In such cases there always is a main question; but in this case that question is a perplexing compound -- Union and Slavery. It thus becomes a question not of two sides merely, but of at least four sides, even among those who are for the Union, saying nothing of those who are against it.” (Lincoln) As a