The victory of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election triggered cries for disunion across the slaveholding South. The South would have been further behind in terms of industrialization and firepower than they were in 1861, but perhaps they would have accepted this from the start and pursued a strategy of guerilla war. In December of 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the union. The convention adopted several resolutions explaining why the state was declaring secession. Secession, as it applies to the outbreak of the American Civil War, comprises the series of events that began on December 20, 1860, and extended through June 8 of the next year when eleven states. Under any of these scenarios, a war like that from 1861-1865 killing 600,000 people and devastating the South seems beyond the worst-case scenario. 1. North Carolina May 20, 1861 In a unanimous vote on May 20, North Carolina was thought to be the last of the states that seceded. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. In any case, I have used the four hypotheticals above to reiterate the point that secession was a gross strategic error. This election, contested by four separate presidential candidates, was ultimately divided along sectional lines, with Abraham Lincoln dominating the northern states while John Breckinridge won the South. Tariffs protected northern industries but disadvantaged the mature markets of southern agriculture cotton, tobacco, lumber. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Since slavery tied the entire Southern economy to a very specific form of agriculture and away from industrial development, the system lacked the flexibility and adaptability of a true free market economy. The movement was encouraged by the secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860. Representatives voted unanimously, 169 to 0 for secession. I believe that the most likely scenario from above is #1, combined with #3. Why did South Carolinians believe they had the right to secede from the Union? We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The 1860 census showed that the slave population had grown to four million in a total population of 23 million. Yet Buchanan also said he did not believe the federal government had any right to prevent states from seceding. South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union on December 20, 1860. Did the Mayflower Go Off Course on Purpose? Although South Carolinians played a major role in the creation of the new federal Constitution, there were those in the state . Secession precipitated the American Civil War. Even moderates and Democrats had little choice but to conclude that the South triggered the Civil War (especially after Fort Sumter). Intuitively, given the passions surrounding the issue by 1860, I'm skeptical that slavery could have survived to 1900 even without the Civil War. Southern extremism on the slavery issue had split the Democratic Party into three factions who were unable to effectively compete with the Republicans. , Darius Rucker. Perhaps by the 1880s or 90s the more prescient of the planters would have seen a decline to the cotton ecology beginning, and would have been willing to "sell high" on the institution of slavery before it collapsed on them. What are the four slave states that seceded from the Union? Why did South Carolina want to secede from USA in the 1830's? Because of that the people responsible for it presented the issue later as a question of whether the Union should have intervened and fought the Civil War -- avoiding the question of whether secession was wise in the first place. What was the last state to join the Confederacy? Within three days, the convention was decided. South Carolina was the first of 11 states to secede at the beginning of the Civil War. The States two mottos surround the two ovals. Abraham Lincoln (November 1860), the seven states of the Deep South (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas) seceded from the Union during the following months. Southern states believed they had a constitutional right to take property -- including slaves -- anywhere. Cotton remained a highly in-demand crop in the North and in Great Britain.3 There is no reason to suspect that this would have changed in the immediate years after 1860. When Carolinians rebelled in the 1770s, they hearkened back to the events of 1719. The south had no justified reason to secede from the union. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Every state secession convention, in voting to secede, made explicit mention to slavery as a cornerstone of their decision to attempt to exit the Union. On December 26th of the same year, Robert Anderson, the Major of the US Army, moved his small battalion from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. All of the states of the Deep South had now left the Union. What was the last state to join the Confederacy? Scenario #3 below will examine this "alternative" late 19th century in more detail. Southerners invested in slavery while Northerners invested in industry. A rebellion started and driven entirely by the slaves themselves, or at most with assistance from free Southern blacks. Since South Carolina was the catalyst, we will start there. Dan Bryan is the founder and editor of American History USA. Those who fell out of line were beaten mercilessly and put on the worst jobs thereafter, and obviously those who attempted open rebellion (such as Nat Turner or Gabriel Prosser) were executed. Was South Carolina justified in seceding from the union? Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana followed in January, and Texas voted to secede on February 1, 1861still more than a month before Lincoln was actually inaugurated. A Critical Perspective. A collapse in cotton production would surely have led to a collapse in slave values and land values, dealing a double-blow to the plantation class and probably leading to a calamity in the financial system. some states were elevating persons "incapable of becoming citizens" (i.e. The escalating controversy over the expansion of slavery into the territory acquired from Mexico prompted South Carolinas secession crisis of 1850 51. Had it occurred in the context of a slave economy, the financial damage would likely have been even worse. The youngest person to assume the presidency was Theodore Roosevelt, who, at the age of 42, succeeded to the office after the assassination of William McKinley. He has created this site to empower Americans of all backgrounds to increase their historical literacy. In reference to the failure of the northern states to uphold the Fugitive Slave Act, South Carolina states the primary reason for its secession: The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States. Secession was driven by the Southern planter class. South Carolina is widely known as the Palmetto State in honor of our state tree, the Palmetto. The Election of 1860 When did South Carolina secede from the Union? We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Washington warned this meant war, and London feared Canada would quickly be seized by the Union army. In October he had privately informed the other southern governors that South Carolina would secede if Lincoln won the election and in November he told Governor Pettus of Mississippi that he did not mean to let our weaker brethren dodge the issue. By 1910, however, the southern planters would have had nowhere else to sell their slaves to, and would have been anchored to their declining value. South Carolina. Without the intransigence of the South in 1860, there may still have been enough voices for compromise to ensure a more orderly system of emancipation. If secession was preemptive and hotheaded given the facts on the ground, why then did the South undertake this course? The North experienced more immigration than the South. In early January 1861, Mississippi held a convention in Jackson to consider secession. In the beginning of 1860, The South wanted to secede from the Union, but the Union didn't like that idea. The Unionists victory showed that North Carolinians did not wish to leave the Union. Holden's Standard effectively upheld the Union cause and expressed hope for compromise. When did Mississippi secede from the United States? Southern states never had the incentive to nurture any significant local productive capacity. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. They argued that since each state had voluntarily joined the union, it had the right to leave the union. An official secession convention met in South Carolina following the November 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, on a platform opposing the expansion of slavery into U.S. territories. The declaration stated the primary reasoning behind South Carolina's declaring of secession from the U.S., which was described as " increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the Institution of Slavery ". The radical wing (descendants of the abolitionists) wanted to keep the focus on civil rights for the freedmen. A week later, on May 13th, Great Britain declared its neutrality. Or perhaps the defeat of the South would have happened much more quickly in this scenario, without the attendant scars to the economy and the Southern psyche that were actually in place by 1865. When tobacco began to deplete the soil and become less profitable in Virginia and Maryland (around the 1820s and 30s), many plantation owners sold their slaves to the Deep South to support the cotton industry. They argued that since each state had voluntarily joined the union, it had the right to leave the union. Citing states rights doctrine, South Carolina voted to nullify the federal tariffs of 1828 and 1832. For nearly a century, the people and politicians of the Northern and Southern states had been clashing over the issues that finally led to war: economic interests, cultural values, the power of the federal government to control the states, and, most importantly, slavery in American society. The nine red states that seceded in 1861 get, on average, 42 percent of their budgets from Washington, according to SmartAsset. Now perhaps in the long-term there was a very real danger of the Southern fears coming to fruition, but as of December 20, 1860 there was no Amendment in process to abolish slavery. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Who wrote the music and lyrics for Kinky Boots? Which Southern states were the last to secede? What was the South fighting for? On December 17, 1860, a convention of state leaders met in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, to discuss secession. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". However, Lincoln's victory in 1860 was far from dominant. While this group also shared many of the economic concerns, they were driven at heart by abolitionism. The business/industrial wing of the Party wanted to compromise on Reconstruction and focus on supporting America's industries and railroads. The original document is housed in the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina. The South wanted the slaves and needed them but the North did not. On the right, Dum Spiro Spero, meaning While I Breathe I Hope. What happened when South Carolina seceded? Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Approximately 60% of the convention, or 104 members, owned as many as 20 enslaved people or more. That is, the Republican Party supported a free Kansas and refused to countenance the idea of admitting another slave state after 1860. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Score: 4.5/5 (30 votes) . South Carolina seceded from the Union because for one the North's views on slavery. What led to South Carolina's secession from the Union? Texas' move completed the first round of secession. They did not secede until after the 1860 election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States. Members of this convention voted for sc to secede from the United States. The secessionists claimed that according to the Constitution every state had the right to leave the Union. The debate is over. Additionally, after the disaster of 1860 the Democrats might have been more inclined to run as a national party in 1864 or 1868. The attempt of the South to secede from the Union was the main convern. Had the Southern states seated their Congressional delegations after 1860, the Democrats would have operated as a minority, but not overwhelmingly so. Slavery had been made illegal in all the northern states by the early 1800s and, with European immigrants supplying cheap labour for a burgeoning industrialised economy, the North saw an abolitionist movement gain strength. The eleven states of the CSA, in order of secession, were: South Carolina (seceded December 20, 1860), Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee (seceded June 8, 1861). The Confederate States of America consisted of 11 states7 original members and 4 states that seceded after the fall of Fort Sumter. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Months later, they began a war. 2022 - 2023 Times Mojo - All Rights Reserved South Carolina had joined the United States of its own free will in 1788 and believed that it had the right to leave when it chose. Four days later, on May 20th, 1861, North Carolina became the last state to join the new Confederacy. Why did South Carolina secede from the Union? Which countries are in the South East of England? Citing states rights doctrine, South Carolina voted to nullify the federal tariffs of 1828 and 1832. Southerners invested in slavery while Northerners invested in industry. 2 - In fact this very split eventually developed within the Republican Party over the failures of Reconstruction. What did president James Buchanan do in response to the secession of South Carolina? Why did South Carolina threaten to secede from the Union the first time? Others minimize slavery and point to other factors, such as taxation or the principle of States' Rights. Ron DeSantis (R), according to a new poll released on . 4)People in the state felt the Crittenden Compromise had failed Charles Pinckney, a vocal critic of the Articles of Confederation and contributor to the US Constitution, served in the House of Representatives from 1819-21. Was South Carolina justified in seceding from the union? What was the South called when it seceded? The secession of South Carolina was followed by the secession of six more statesMississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texasand the threat of secession by four moreVirginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Slavery as an economic institution was not on the ropes in 1860 -- on the other hand it was wildly profitable. Six days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, the commander of Charlestons forts decided to move his men to Fort Sumter. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". 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