Secession Begins

South Carolina adopted the "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union" on December 24, 1860. 

It argued for states' rights for slave owners in the South, but contained a complaint about states' rights in the North in the form of opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act, claiming that Northern states were not fulfilling their federal obligations under the Constitution. All of the alleged violations of the rights of Southern states were related to slavery.

Do you know about Secession quiz?

True or False

1. Before Lincoln took office, seven states had declared their secession from the Union.

2. One quarter of the U.S. Army (the entire garrison in Texas) was surrendered.

3. As Southerners resigned their seats in the Senate and the House, secession later enabled Republicans to pass bills for projects that had been blocked by Southern Senators before the war.

4. Within two weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter, two states joined the Confederacy.

5. The western portion of Virginia subsequently seceded from Virginia, joining the Union as the new state of West Virginia on June 20, 1865.

6. Thirty-six states remained loyal to the Union.

7. Several slave-holding Native American tribes supported the Confederacy, giving the Indian territory (now Oklahoma) a small bloody civil war.

8. The Border states in the Union included ten slave states.

9. In Missouri, an elected convention on secession voted decisively to remain within the Union.

10. Kentucky did not secede; for a time, it declared itself neutral.

11. Unionist secessions attempts never appeared in East Tennessee.

Answers

1. True. Before Lincoln took office, seven states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) had declared their secession from the Union. They established a Southern government, the Confederate States of America on February 9, 1861. They took control of federal forts and other properties within their boundaries with little resistance from outgoing President James Buchanan, whose term ended on March 4, 1861. Buchanan asserted, "The South has no right to secede, but I have no power to prevent them."

2. True. One quarter of the U.S. Army (the entire garrison in Texas) was surrendered to state forces by its commanding general, David E. Twiggs, who then joined the Confederacy.

3. True. As Southerners resigned their seats in the Senate and the House, secession later enabled Republicans to pass bills for projects that had been blocked by Southern Senators before the war, including the Morrill Tariff, land grant colleges (the Morill Act), a Homestead Act, a trans-continental railroad (the Pacific Railway Acts), the National Banking Act and the authorization of United States Notes by the Legal Tender Act of 1862. The Revenue Act of 1861 introduced the income tax to help finance the war.

4. False. Following the attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for a volunteer army from each state. Within two months, four more Southern slave states declared their secession and joined the Confederacy: Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee.

5. False. The western portion of Virginia subsequently seceded from Virginia, joining the Union as the new state of West Virginia on June 20, 1863.

6. False. Twenty-three states remained loyal to the Union: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. During the war, Nevada and West Virginia joined as new states of the Union. Tennessee and Louisiana were returned to Union military control early in the war. The territories of Colorado, Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington fought on the Union side.

7. True. Several slave-holding Native American tribes supported the Confederacy, giving the Indian territory (now Oklahoma) a small bloody civil war.

8. False. The Border states in the Union were West Virginia (which was separated from Virginia and became a new state), and four of the five northernmost slave states (Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, and Kentucky). Maryland had numerous pro-Confederate officials who tolerated anti-Union rioting in Baltimore and the burning of bridges. Lincoln responded with martial law and called for troops. Militia units that had been drilling in the North rushed toward Washington and Baltimore. Before the Confederate government realized what was happening, Lincoln had seized firm control of Maryland (and the separate District of Columbia), by arresting all the Maryland government members and holding them without trial.

9. True. In Missouri, an elected convention on secession voted decisively to remain within the Union. When pro-Confederate Governor Claiborne F. Jackson called out the state militia, it was attacked by federal forces under General Nathaniel Lyon. After the Camp Jackson Affair Lyon chased the governor and the rest of the State Guard to the southwestern corner of the state. In the resulting vacuum, the convention on secession reconvened and took power as the Unionist provisional government of Missouri.

10. True. Kentucky did not secede; for a time, it declared itself neutral. When Confederate forces entered the state in September, 1861, neutrality ended and the state reaffirmed its loyal status, while trying to maintain slavery. During a brief invasion by Confederate forces, Confederate sympathizers organized a secession convention, inaugurated a governor, and gained recognition from the Confederacy. The rebel government soon went into exile and never controlled Kentucky.

11. False. Unionist secessions attempts appeared in East Tennessee, but were suppressed by the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis arrested over 3,000 men suspected of being loyal to the Union and held them without trial.

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