Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
Arizona Ordinance of Secession
Passed by the People of Arizona in Convention Assembled at La Mesilla, Arizona Territory, 16 March 1861
"WHEREAS, a sectional party of the North has disregarded the Constitution of the United States, violated the rights of the Southern States, and heaped wrongs and indignities upon their people; and WHEREAS, the Government of the United States has heretofore failed to give us adequate protection against the savages within our midst and has denied us an administration of the laws, and that security for life, liberty, and property which is due from all governments to the people; and WHEREAS, it is an inherent, inalienable right in all people to modify, alter, or abolish their form of government whenever it fails in the legitimate objects of its institution, or when it is subversive thereof; and WHEREAS, in a government of federated, sovereign States, each State has a right to withdraw from the confederacy whenever the treaty by which the league is formed, is broken; and WHEREAS, the Territories belonging to said league in common should be divided when the league is broken, and should be attached to the separating States according to their geographical position and political identity; and WHEREAS, Arizona naturally belongs to the Confederate States of America (who have rightfully and lawfully withdrawn from said league), both geographically and politically, by ties of a common interest and a common cause; and WHEREAS we, the citizens of that part of New Mexico called Arizona, in the present distracted state of political affairs between the North and the South, deem it our duty as citizens of the United States to make known our opinions and intentions; therefore be it.
RESOLVED, That our feelings and interests are with the Southern States , and that although we deplore the division of the Union, yet we cordially indorse the course pursued by the seceded Southern States.
RESOLVED, That geographically and naturally we are bound to the South, and to her we look for protection; and as the Southern States have formed a Confederacy, it is our earnest desire to be attached to that Confederacy as a Territory.
RESOLVED, That we do not desire to be attached as a Territory to any State seceding separately from the Union, but to and under the protection of a Confederacy of the Southern States.
RESOLVED, That the recent enactment of the Federal Congress, removing the mail service from the Atlantic to the Pacific States from the Southern to the Central or Northern route, is another powerful reason for us to ask the Southern Confederate States of America for a continuation of the postal service over the Butterfield or El Paso route, at the earliest period.
RESOLVED, That it shall be the duty of the President of this Convention to order an election for a delegate to the Congress of the Confederate States of America, when he is informed that the States composing said Confederacy have ordered an election for members of Congress.
RESOLVED, That we will not recognise the present Black Republican Administration, and that we will resist any officers appointed to this Territory by said Administration with whatever means in our power.
RESOLVED, That the citizens residing in the western portion of this Territory are invited to join us in this movement.
RESOLVED, That the proceedings of this Convention be published in the Mesilla Times, and that a copy thereof be forwarded to the President of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, with the request that the same be laid before Congress."
Resolutions expressing the feelings and sentiments of the General Council of the Choctaw Nation in reference to the political disagreement existing between the Northern and Southern States of the American Union.
Resolved by the General Council of the Choctaw Nation assembled, That we view with deep regret and great solicitude the present unhappy political disagreement between the Northern and Southern States of the American Union, tending to a permanent dissolution of the Union and the disturbance of the various important relations existing with that Government by treaty stipulations and international laws, and portending much injury to the Choctaw government and people.
Resolved further, That we must express the earnest desire and ready hope entertained by the entire Choctaw people, that any and all political disturbances agitating and dividing the people of the various States may be honourably and speedily adjusted; and the example and blessing, and fostering care of their General Government, and the many and friendly social ties existing with their people, continue for the enlightenment in moral and good government and prosperity in the material concerns of life to our whole population.
Resolved further, That in the event a permanent dissolution of the American Union takes place, our many relations with the General Government must cease, and we shall be left to follow the natural affections, education, institutions, and interests of our people, which indissolubly bind us in every way to the destiny of our neighbours and brethren of the Southern States, upon whom we are confident we can rely for the preservation of our rights of life, liberty, and property, and the continuance of many acts of friendship, general counsel, and material support.
Resolved further, That we desire to assure our immediate neighbours, the people of Arkansas and Texas, of our determination to observe the amicable relations in every way so long existing between us, and the firm reliance we have, amid any disturbances with other States, the rights and feelings so sacred to us will remain respected by them and be protected from the encroachments of others.
Resolved further, That his excellency the principal chief be requested to enclose, with an appropriate communication from himself, a copy of these resolutions to the governors of the Southern States, with the request that they be laid before the State convention of each State, as many as have assembled at the date of their reception, and that in such as have not they be published in the newspapers of the State.
Resolved, That these resolutions take effect and be in force from and after their passage.
Articles Of Confederation
Entered Into Between Muscogees, Seminoles, Choctaws And Chickasaws
And The Confederate States Of America.
Whereas the dissolution of the Federal Union under which the government of the United States existed, had absolved the Muscogee, Seminole, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation of Indians from allegiance to any foreign government whatever, that by the providence of God, the current of events has left them free and independent to form such alliances as may ensure their own safety, promote general welfare, provide for the common defense, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, as may to them seem best and retain unimpaired their Tribal or National rights, titles and interest in and to the country which they now respectively hold; Therefore Articles of Confederation and perpetual union are hereby entered into by and between the Muscogee, Seminole, Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians by their commissioners in convention, held at North Fork in the country of the Muscogee, on the first day of July, A. D. 1861.
Article 1. We agree that such Tribe or Nation, party to this act of Confederation, shall retain its sovereignty, freedom and independence and jurisdiction and constitutional rights not expressly delegated to the Grand Council of the United Nations of the Indian Territory to be composed of any members from each Tribe or Nation, and the title of their laws shall be "Be it enacted by the Grand Council of the United Nations of the Indian Territory."
Article 2. It is further agreed that the four Tribes or Nations herein mentioned have severally entered into a firm league and friendship with the each other for their common defense, the security of their liberties and their mutual and general welfare, and bind themselves to apart each other against all force offered to or attacks that might be made upon any or all of them, or account of their sovereignty independence country or any other positions whatsoever, and for the convenient management of the general interest and welfare of the Confederate Tribes or Nations, it is hereby determined that delegates shall be annually elected in such manner as the Council or Legislation or each Tribe or Nation shall direct, to meet in the Grand Council at North Fork, on the first Monday of September of every year, provided, however, that first meeting of the Grand Council of United Nations shall be on the first of December A. D. 1861 and should provide further that the Council or Legislation of each Nation shall have approved of the Articles of Confederation, and due notice shall have been first given by the Executive Authority of each Nation to the other.
Article 3. It is also agreed to that the Principal Chief or Governor of each Tribe or Nation, party to this Confederation shall all attend the meetings of Grand Council of the United Nations and give such information of the state of affairs in their respective districts or country, and recommend any measures they may desire necessary to the Grand Council for their consideration. A majority of Chiefs or Governors signing any bills, resolutions or acts which may be passed by the Grand Council it shall become the force of a law, as if all the Chiefs or Governors of the Confederation had approved and signed the same.
Article 4. In case any of the Principal Chiefs or Governors of the several Nations or Tribes herein mentioned, be indisposed or unable to attend the meetings of the delegates; he shall have the power to appoint one in his place to perform the duties required of the Principal Chief or Governor during the session of the Grand Council; also, either of the Chiefs or Governors shall have the privilege of convening the Grand Council, should he deem the consideration of affairs among his people require it, by giving due notice of the time to other Chiefs or Governors.
Article 5. When vacancies happens or the Grand Council from the Tribes or Nations herein Confederated, the Executive Authority thereof shall fill the vacancies by appointments.
Article 6. The Grand Council shall choose their President and other officers and make such needful bills for the government of the House, as they may deem proper and necessary, and shall be the judges of the election returns and the qualifications of its members; and a majority of delegates shall constitute a quorum to do business but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day until five days shall have transpired when they shall adjourn sine die.
Article 7. Each Nation or Tribe may give such compensation to each of their respective members as they may think best to allow.
Article 8. Any other Nation or Tribe of Indians, not a party of this Compact, may be admitted into this Confederacy by conforming to the foregoing Articles of Confederation, and with the consent of the Grand Council.
Article 9. It is further agreed and understood, that, for the mutual protection and safety of the Nations or Tribes parties to this Compact the right of way to all forces of the Confederate States of America through our territory is hereby granted.
Article 10. The Grand Council shall have power to call on each of the Nations or Tribes herein confederated, to furnish any number of troops to repel invasion by a foreign enemy, or to suppress insurrections under such regulations and measures as they may deem necessary to adopt.
Article 11. It is further agreed that such Nations or Tribes, parties to this Compact shall be bound to abide by the determinations or acts passed by the Grand Council in pursuance of the powers herein granted.
Article 12. It is also agreed that whenever two-thirds of the members of the Grand Council desire to amend or change any part of the foregoing Articles of Confederation, they shall make amendments or change the same in such manner as they may think proper.
Article 13. That when any one of the Nations or Tribes herein confederated become dissatisfied and desire to withdraw from the same, they shall give their reasons in writing, and be required to give notice of their intention to the Grand Council which shall have power to absolve them from all obligations of the Compact. Whereas, it is highly necessary that the right of way and free passage through the several districts or country of the Muscogee, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations of Indians be granted forthwith to all forces or troops which may desire to make their march through any of the Districts or countries aforesaid, in order to repel the invading forces of Abraham Lincoln, therefore;
Be it resolved by the Commissioners in convention assembled, that the right of way and free passage be and is hereby granted to all forces of the Confederate States of America, as well as to the forces of any Nation or Tribe who may desire to march their forces through to any part of the Indian Territory to repel the invading forces of abolition hands under Abraham Lincoln, whose army is now approaching our position.
This resolution to be in full force and effect from and after its passage.
Done in Convention at North Fork, in the country of the Muscogee, on the first day of July, A. D. 1861.
BANKING OFFICE OF A. NICHOLAS & CO.,
No. 70 Wall Street,
NEW YORK, 15th April, '61.
Col. J. M. McCUE,
Mt. Solon,
Dear Sir:
It is a long time since I had the pleasure of writing you of your health. I have been frequently informed by my friend Sibert who has been kind enough to advise me occasinally respecting Mt. Solon and yourself. We have in this city become highly excited by the news that Fort Sumter was fired into and taken by the troops of the Cotton States. The President's message, calling first for 75,000 troops and then increasing the demand to 175,000, has produced a profound and deep impression that we are about entering into an awful performance, the end of which no man can tell. The only hope now is, that Va. will stand firm by the Union and hold all the border States to the same line of policy--if she does, our misguided South Carolina friends can soon be brought to reason--if she does not, but goes to swell the triumphal car of secession, God knows the end. The universal sentiment here is, that if the Border States do go out, then the war must exterminate the cause which has created this contention. When I heard that South Carolina fired coolly and deliberately and wantonly upon our flag, I cried like a child, that our brothers should fire into us. If the men that did the deed could have seen the eyes that were dimmed, and the stout frames of strong men that shook when the news was received here, they would have wished that the earth had swallowed them up. The newspapers and office seekers have done their best to set the sections against each other. May God forgive them I can't!--My Dear Sir, will Virginia secede? What is your opinion? Pray let me hear from you soon.
Yours,
A. NICHOLAS.
---------
MT. SOLON, 21st April, '61.
MR. A. NICHOLAS,
Dear Sir:
Yours of the 15th inst., came to hand a few days ago. Circumstances that have occurred since, have more than answered one of the interrogatories you ask with so much apparent feeling, "Has Virginia seceded?" She has not only seceded, but has on this morning, an army in the field, to defend our rights and institutions, that will carry terror to the hearts of those who vauntingly boast that they will "exterminate the cause," as you are pleased to term it, of all the difficulties between us. Could you, and the myrmidons of abolition, of agrarianism and all that is abominable in a free government, see, as I have had the opportunity within the past few days, the spirit of our people, your craven hearts would collapse within your cowardly carcasses. You who possess means to justify it, will send your hired mercenaries to overpower us, it may be. You may devastate our country, burn our towns, insult and abuse our women, but conquer us you can never do. When our brave and gallant sons are exterminated, if such could be, you will find our wives and daughters more than a match for all the Beechers, and Cheevers and Stowes and that ****able set that you have so long paid Court to, and encouraged, until you have brought this affliction upon the country.
You speak of our "institutions" being the cause of this war, and you will exterminate it forsooth. Let me tell you, sir, that it has been the misguided frenzy and folly and madness of your people, that has been the cause; and that people that has fattened and flourished upon the labor of this institution, and in your pharasaical and puritanical self-righteousness, after hoarding this wealth, would say to us, "stand aside, we are holier than thou," and cannot live under the same government with you. Let me say to you, sir, that the men of New York and New England who, in the war of 1812, could stand by with folded hands and see the flag of their country trailed and trampled in the dust, and convene themselves into a Hartford convention, and refuse to furnish men and means to defend their country and that flag from an insolent foreign foe, can with a very bad grace now shed tears, as you say you did, when you heard that flag was fired upon at Fort Sumter. Your ****able hypocrisy makes my blood boil, and in spite of myself, makes me pray that we may have the earnestly hoped for opportunity of meeting you in sight of the Potomac, and all those who, like you, have been shedding those crocodile tears, and there testing, in the sight of the ashes of the Father of his Country, your sincerity in defending that flag. But permit me to say, sir, that you will not be there. You, and those who think like you, will send as your personal representatives, the miserable mercenary foreigners, that you can gather up in your cities at $10 per month to do your fighting. Would to God it were otherwise, and we could meet you all in person, and your boasted Seventh Regiment besides, who have warmed at our firesides, slept under our roofs, shared our hospitality, and when it was in your interest to do so, have preached up your conservatism. But enough, sir, I have not patience to say more. In the hope I may meet you at Washington, (what I do not expect,) I am, sir, yours.
Republican Vindicator, March 22, 1861, page one, column 1
We again remind the Democracy of the county, that a meeting will be held on Monday next to appoint delegates to a Congressional Convention to assemble in Harrisonburg on the 25th of April. This day is fixed upon, because it will not interfere with the Courts of any county in the District that we know of. We trust there will be a full meeting, for we deem it of the highest importance that prompt and determined steps be taken to organize the party and prepare for the triumph of the Democracy in May next. The contest is emphatically to be between State Rights and Federalism, and the quicker we draw the lines, the better. It is a time when every man should take his position, and maintain a fixed stand in support of the principles of the Constitution and the government as understood and explained by their founders, or subscribe to a latitudinous idea that will in the end lead to a surrender of our rights and the subordination of our section to Black Republican and abolition aggression and outrage. The issue is before us, and we cannot escape from its consideration. We must either identify ourselves with the North or the South. The question of Union or Disunion is dead and buried. Dissolution has already taken place, and whether the people of Virginia can realize it or not, it is most certainly so. The only question is, where will Virginia go--with her sister States of the South on terms of perfect equality, where the Constitution, the laws and legislation, the feelings and affections, harmonize with her interests and institutions, or with the North, where every act discriminates against her, proscribes her as inferior, and where the sentiment of the people is hostile to her rights and the rights of her citizens? We beg the Democracy and all State Rights men, to remember these things, and come forward on Monday next to take a firm stand for the organization of the State Rights party in this District.
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"The South has furnished near three-fourths of the entire exports of the country. Last year she furnished seventy-two percent of the whole...we have a tariff that protects our manufacturers from thirty to fifty persent, and enables us to consume large quantities of Southern cotton, and to compete in our whole home market with the skilled labor of Europe. This operates to compel the South to pay an indirect bounty to our skilled labor, of millions annually." -
New Orleans Daily Crescent, January 21, 1861
"They (the South) know that it is their import trade that draws from the people's pockets sixty or seventy millions of dollars per annum, in the shape of duties, to be expended mainly in the North, and in the protection and encouragement of Northern interest.... These are the reasons why these people do not wish the South to secede from the Union. They (the North) are enraged at the prospect of being despoiled of the rich feast upon which they have so long fed
and fattened, and which they were just getting ready to enjoy with still greater gout and gusto. They are as mad as hornets because the prize slips them just as they are ready to grasp it."
__________________ Thea
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Federal Official Records, Vol. XXV, Chapter XLVII,
pg. 341 - report of the Confederate Commander, Savannah, April 27, 1864 - Battle of Ocean Pond (Olustee) - 54th Mass. present
"...As usual with the enemy, they posted their negro regiments on their left and in front, where they were slain by hundreds, and upon retiring left their dead and wounded negroes uncared for, carrying off only the whites, which accounts for the fact that upon the first part of the battle-field nearly all the dead found were negroes."
"A Brave Black Regiment: History of the
Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry," Luis F. Emilio, Boston: Boston Book Company, 1894; Reprint, Salem: Ayer Company Publishers, Inc., 1990., 93
[Reporting on the assault on Battery Wagner] "Sergeant George E. Stephens of Company B described the scene to Captain Emilio: 'Just at the very hottest moment of the struggle, a battalion or regiment charged up to the moat, halted, and did not attempt to join us, but from their position commenced to fire upon us. I was one of the men who shouted from where I stood, 'Don't fire on us. We are the Fifty-fourth.' I have heard it was a Maine Regiment .'"
__________________ Thea
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"The Sable Arm." Dudley T.
Cornish, New York: Longman, Green & Co., 1956, p 274
[Regarding the Battle of the Crater] "George L. Kilmer, an officer of the Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery, went into the crater with the first wave and reported afterward that when the USCT moved forward to charge the fort, some of white soldiers refused to follow them. Pandemonium broke out when the black soldiers could not continue the assault and started to retreat and come back
into the crater. 'Some colored men came into the crater and there they found a fate worse than death in the charge . . . It has been positively asserted, that white men [Union] bayoneted blacks who fell back into the crater.'"
__________________ Thea
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The Vindicator will only be two pages long this week.
We are able only to give our readers a half sheet this week. It will be seen however, that we furnish almost as much reading matter as usual, as we have thrown out all the Yankee advertisements except one or two that have paid in advance. We devote our space almost entirely to the publication of news relating to the present crisis.
Object of the War.
To prevent any misapprehension on the part of our readers relative to an expression in our paper last week, "that the war would be carried into Africa," we make this explanation. Gen. Scott has extended the Military Department of Washington as to include Pennsylvania and Delaware.--Should a battle occur and we take Washington, then it will in all probability be the policy of President Davis to drive the enemy from his position on Southern soil. The base line of the operations of General Scott will have to be broken up. This accomplished, the South will not advance one foot further. We simply want our own soil relieved from the oppression of the North. We want and mean to have our rights and our liberty, or else honourable graves. We are acting on the defensive exclusively. We are repelling aggression. We are defending our firesides and homes. "Lives there a man with soul so dead," that he is not willing to spring eagerly to the trigger for such a purpose?
__________________ Thea
No one has permission to use any material from any of my posts on any CWT forum, the archives, or any other forum without my express written permission.
If Lincoln has any regard for the most positive pledge given by him in the midst of the imposing ceremonies of inauguration, and under the solemn sanction of that "oath" which he speaks of as being "recorded in Heaven," there will be "no invasion" of our State beyond the localities of the property heretofore held by the United States Government, and "no using of force against or among the people anywhere."
It will thus be seen that he gave the most positive assurance, under the most solemn circumstances, that the "power confided" to him would not be used to any degree "beyond what may be necessary to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the Government," and that beyond this there would be "no invasion--no using of force against or among the people anywhere." If, in violation of this pledge, he should send troops into the interior of the State, he would show that he is a falsifier in whom the truth cannot be found, and that he has a poor chance, unless a radical change takes place, even to see the record of his "oath in heaven."
__________________ Thea
No one has permission to use any material from any of my posts on any CWT forum, the archives, or any other forum without my express written permission.
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