ASR! / Dr. Walczak Name & Section: ________________________________________ WHY SECEDE? se·cede /siˈsēd/ Verb: Withdraw formally from membership in a federal union, an alliance, or a political or religious organization. As a result of the election of Abraham Lincoln as President in 1860, South Carolina and six other southern states seceded from the Union. What were their arguments? What did others argue about secession? Use the primary source document excerpts and data that follow to make some observations about secession. SOURCE A -­‐ Excerpt from a speech by Albert Gallatin Brown, a Mississippi politician, September 26, 1860 (The Northerners) hate us now, and they teach their children in their schools and churches to hate our children...the John Brown raid...the abolitionists among us, tell the tale...The North is accumulating power, and it means to use that power to emancipate (free) your slaves...Disunion is a fearful thing, but emancipation is worse. Better leave the union in the open face of day, than be lighted from it at midnight by the arsonist's torch." ! What effect did John Brown’s raid have on relationships between Northerners and Southerners? ! What actions does Albert Gallatin Brown believe the South needs to take and why? ! Circle the most impactful or influential words in Brown’s statement. Why might Brown have chosen these words? SOURCE B -­‐ William Cullen Bryant, New York Evening Post (February 18, 1861) “[The secessionist argument] is a libel upon the whole character and conduct of the men of ‘76... [The founders fought] to establish the rights of man... and principles of universal liberty. [The South is rebelling] not in the interest of general humanity, but of domestic despotism... Their motto is not liberty, but slavery.” ! What does the word “libel” mean? ! What does the word “despotism” mean? ! According to Bryant, why is the South rebelling? What does this mean in your own words? Activity originally designed by Mr. Taft. SOURCE C -­‐ Resolution to Call the Election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. President a Hostile Act (November 9. 1860) That this General Assembly is satisfied that Abraham Lincoln has already been elected President of the United States, and that said election has been based upon principles of open and avowed hostility to the social organization and peculiar interests of the slave holding states of this Confederacy. Resolved, that it is the sense of this General Assembly that South Carolina is now ready to dissolve her connection with the government of the United States, and earnestly desires and hereby solicits the cooperation of her sister slave-­‐holding states in such movement. ! Why does South Carolina want to secede? From whom are they asking for cooperation? ! Look at the name of this statement. Why might South Carolina have utilized such a title? ! What vocabulary word(s) is used in South Carolina’s statement? What does the sentence(s) in which it is used mean? SOURCE D -­‐ A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union (January 9, 1861) Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-­‐-­‐ the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin. ! Why does Mississippi want to secede? What evidence do they provide to support their argument? ! Circle the most impactful or influential words in Mississippi’s statement. Why might the state have chosen these words? ! What vocabulary word(s) is used in Mississippi’s statement? What does the sentence(s) in which it is used mean? SOURCE E – Declaration of Secession, State of Texas (February 1, 1861) For years past this abolition organization has been actively sowing the seeds of discord through the Union, and has rendered the federal congress the arena for spreading firebrands and hatred between the slave-­‐
holding and non-­‐slave-­‐holding States. … By consolidating their strength, they have placed the slave-­‐holding States in a hopeless minority in the federal congress, and rendered representation of no avail in protecting Southern rights against their exactions and encroachments. … And, finally, by the combined sectional vote of the seventeen non-­‐slave-­‐holding States, they have elected as president and vice-­‐president of the whole confederacy two men whose chief claims to such high positions are their approval of these long continued wrongs, and their pledges to continue them to the final consummation of these schemes for the ruin of the slave-­‐holding States. ! Why does Texas want to secede? What evidence do they provide to support their argument? ! Circle the most impactful or influential words in Texas’s statement. Why might the state have chosen these words? ! What vocabulary word(s) is used in Texas’s statement? What does the sentence(s) in which it is used mean? SOURCE F -­‐ Dates of Secession and Percentages of Slaveholders SC
Dec. 20, 1860
MS
Jan. 9, 1861
FL
Jan. 10, 1861
AL
Jan. 11, 1961
GA
Jan. 19, 1861
LA
Jan. 26, 1861
TX
States and Dates of Secession
Dates of Secession and Percentages of Slaveholders
Feb. 1, 1861
0
10
Percentages of Slaveholders
48.7
48
36
35.1
38
32.2
28.5
20
30
40
50
60
! What is the correlation between the order of the states’ secession and the amount of slaveholders? Explain in detail. SOURCE G -­‐ Georgia Secessionist, in reference to the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President, 1861 “On the 4th of March, 1861, we are either slaves in the Union or freemen out of it. Will you be slaves or will you be independent? Will you consent to be robbed of your property or will you strike bravely for liberty, property, and honor and life?” ! What is this Georgian’s argument about the upcoming inauguration? Why would the result of the election make him feel this way? ! How is this Georgian using the word “slave”? Why is this significant? SOURCE H -­‐ Abraham Lincoln, Inaugural Address (March 4, 1861) I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. ! What does it mean to be “perpetual” or what is “Perpetuity”? ! In your own words, what is Lincoln arguing about the Union? SOURCE I – Jefferson Davis, Message to the Confederate Congress (April 29, 1861) “It was by the delegates chosen by the several States… that the Constitution of the United States was framed in 1787 and submitted to the several States for ratification… [These] States endeavored in every possible form to exclude the idea that the separate and independent sovereignty of each State was merged into one common government and nation, and… to impress on the Constitution its true character – that of a compact between independent States. … Amendments were added to the Constitution placing beyond any pretense of doubt the reservation by the States of all their sovereign rights and powers not expressly delegated to the United States by the Constitution. Strange, indeed, … [the Constitution has] proved unavailing to prevent the rise and growth in the Northern States of a political school which has persistently claimed that the government thus formed was not a compact between States, but was in effect national government, set up above and over the States.” ! Using Davis’s beliefs, how could a Southerner argue that states had the right to secede? After examining these materials -­‐-­‐-­‐ why did the South secede from the Union? Refer back to specific materials in your response. In your view, did the Southern states have a right to secede from the Union? Why or why not? In your opinion, was secession inevitable? Could the country have been “talked off the edge of the precipice”? What questions do you have about secession?