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.
From the Charleston Mercury, Saturday, April 20, 1861
For What Are We Contending?
For more than thirty years the people of South Carolina have been contending against the consolidation of the Government of the United States. Created a Confederation of Republics whose central power, authority, and jurisdiction, were carefully limited by the compact of the Constitution, and made conformable to, and within its proper limits, co-ordinate with the original and reserved
powers, authority and jurisdiction of the several States which it was composed, the United States Government has steadily usurped powers not granted--progressively trenched upon States Rights. Not a bald, irresponsible, unchecked, vulgar democracy of mere numbers, was organized by the instrument of the Federation between the States; but a well adjusted, duplicate system harmonious and complimentary--the central common Government performing its allotted functions
within its prescribed sphere, and each State Government performing all other functions of Government not expressly yielded to the other. If that Government became practically omnipotent, it was clear that it must be a most fearful despotism--a despotism of one section of the Union over the other--a despotism of Manufacturing over Agricultural States--of Free States over Slaveholding States. Earnestly and faithfully have our public men at Washington contended
against this fatal consummation. It was not for free trade only in 1833--it was not against antislavery fanaticism only in 1852, it is not now against our reclusion from our Territories or the vulgar crew who fill the high places at Washington, that we have set up for ourselves a separate destiny. These are all effects of one great cause--the consolidation of the Federal Government. As
facts, we have been obliged to meet them--but the facts themselves were comparatively insignificant. They were like the ship money which Hampton refused to pay--like the three pence a pound on tea, which our fathers resisted. They proved to us that we were the slaves of a consolidated despotism--that self government, and the security which self government alone can impart--and liberty,and the priceless self-esteem and proud repose, which liberty can only inspire--were no longer our inheritance or possession. It was in vain that South
Carolina endeavored to prove that this despotism existed. We had the forms of a free representative government. There was a party in the Northern States professing those principles of limitation and restriction, which might yet be restored to ascendancy in the government, and make it again a free government.
There was a deep reverence and attachment to the Union, which blinded the understanding of some of the brightest intelligences of the South. These all conspired to carry the South on in the chains of a sectional despotism, which looked, in its final consummation, to nothing short of our absolute subjugation and
ruin. South Carolina, by her secession, forced the test of the nature of the government under which we lived. It has proved itself. As one scale of hypocrisy after another fell off of its poisonous surface, it stood forth a pure, fierce monster of despotism. The National Intelligencer, of Washington, for forty years the central organ of Consolidation, identifies its policy with the New York Tribune. BLAIR, the mouth-piece of JACKSON Democracy in 1833, and
JOHNSON, of Tennessee, its modern prototype, and DOUGLAS and BUCHANAN, now join with LINCOLN and CHASE and SEWARD in the grand effort to establish, by the sword, what has long existed as a policy--the despotism of a consolidated government under the Constitution of the United States. The matter is now plain. State after State in the South sees the deadly development, and are moving to take their part in the grand effort to redeem their liberties. It is not a contest for righteous taxation. It is not a contest for the security of slave property. It is a contest for freedom and free government, in which everything dear to man is involved. Shall we submit to the sectional and remorseless despotism of a majority of the Northern States, with no restraints on their lawless will, no checks on their omnivorous rapacity? That is the question. Every man, every boy in the South answers NO! And they will fight the foul usurpers and tyrants, if they dare the issue of war, as long as the streams run and the
sun shines on our vallies.
__________________ 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.
"No state can legally leave the Union. What is called "the right of secession" has no existence. It means the right of revolution, which belongs to every people...If the revolution succeeds, history justifies them; if they fail, it condemns them, even while not condemning their motives of action...If South Carolina should rebel,--and secession is rebellion,--and if other states should join her, it would be the duty of the general government to compel them to observe the law..."
Unionblue
(Message edited by Unionblue on January 02, 2004)
(Message edited by Unionblue on January 02, 2004)
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
From the Staunton Spectator, Virginia, October 23, 1860.
Nothing to Dread from Lincoln.
"Even though Lincoln should be elected, and should be disposed to commit some aggression upon the rights of the South, he could not do it. The Supreme Court is against the theories of his party. The Senate is against them and the Congress will be against them. There are 237 members of the House--Oregon and California send three against him, Ohio ten, Indiana four, Illinois five, Pennsylvania five, and the South eighty-nine, 116 in all. We have but to elect three other anti-Lincoln members and all is safe. New York city alone will elect six. There cannot in any event then be danger of present aggression against the South, and if conservation and a Union spirit shall prevail in the border Southern States, we may prevent any of the other States, by reason and argument, from seceding, if Lincoln should be elected."
"To break up the Government under these circumstances, simply because Lincoln should be elected, would be adding madness to treason.--The danger is in the Cotton States, and not in the North. The spirit of prohibition as represented by Lincoln will be impotent for mischief, but the spirit of disunion, as represented by Yancey and other extremists of the South may be potential for indescribable evils. The people should do all they can to elect the Union loving conservatives, Bell and Everett, for then there would be no danger of disunion and civil war."
Unionblue
(Message edited by Unionblue on January 02, 2004)
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
From the Atlanta Daily Intelligencer, January 16, 1860.
"What precautionary measures can they institute to prevent a dissolution of the Southern Confederacy? Will it not have a North and a South? and will not venal and ambitious men disturb its peace and destroy its nationality? Will not disaffected States secede and assume the self-importance of nations? And will not separate and distinct nations of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, &c., get to logger heads with each other and appeal to arms as the arbiter? Would not citizens of the great nation of Georgia discover that there is a North and a South within its vast limits? and might not the hardy mountaineers of the Cherokee country invade the soil of the fertile valleys, giving cause for another division and dissolution? Will not this dividing and subdividing, when once commenced, proceed unchecked, until all we hold dear is lost?"
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
From the South Carolina, the Charleston Courier, December 22, 1860, the South Carolina Secession Declaration Debate.
Mr. KEITT..."But the Tariff is not the question which brought the people up to their present attitude. We are to give a summary of our causes to the world, but mainly to the other Southern States, whose co-action we wish, and we must not make a fight on the Tariff question. The Whig party, throughout all the States, have been protective Tariff men, and they cling to that old issue with all the passion incident to the pride of human opinions. Are we to go off on debateable and doctrinal points? Are we to go back to the consideration of this question, of this great controversy; go back to that party's politics, around which so many passions cluster? ...Names are much--associations and passions cluster around names...It is name, and when we come to more practicability we must consult names. Our people have come to this on the question of slavery. I am willing, in that address to rest it upon that question. I think it is the great central point from which we are now proceeding, and I am not willing to divert the public attention from it. I believe the address, in this respect, cannot."
Unionblue
(Message edited by Unionblue on January 03, 2004)
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
From the Washington, Arkansas Telegraph, January 13, 1865.
"We fight for independence. But this independence is itself valuable only as a means to a higher ends. The institutions which we cherish, and which by means of independence we hope to secure and perpetuate for the advancement of civilization, and the elevation and consequent happiness and dignity of ourselves and posterity, are the true objects of the struggle. They are the only worthy ones. Independence, with social degredation, and hopeless national poverty, is not worth the cost. It is a curse. For ourselves we wish none of it. Independence with anarchy and continual fluctuation of governments is hardly more desirable..."
"The great conservative institution of slavery, so excellent in itself, and so necessary to civil liberty and the dignity of the white race, is one of the grand objects of our struggle. It should never be lost sight of, nor under any pressure should we ever take any step incompatible with the relation of master and slave. No entering wedge to emancipation should ever be allowed. It should not be held forth to the slave as a boon for his services. Our theory is, that he is better off as a slave; and even if he were not, we could not safely have an emancipated class of them amoungst us. Much less can we put arms in his hands. That would ruin him forever. Slavery afterwards would became impossible."
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
From the Atlantic Monthly, VII (1861), pages 120-21.
"We do not underestimate the gravity of the present crisis, and we agree that nothing should be done to exasperate it; but if the people of the Free States have been taught anything by the repeated lessons of bitter experience, it has been that submission is not the seed of conciliation, but of contempt and encroachent...It is quite time that it is should be understood that freedom is also an institution deserving some attention in a Model Republic, that a decline in stocks is more tolerable and more transient than one in public spirit, and that material prosperity was never known to abide long in a country that had lost its political morality. The fault of the Free States in the eyes of the South is not one that can be atoned for by any yielding of special points here and there. Their offence is that they are free, and that their habits and prepossessions are those of Freedom. Their crime is the census of 1860. Their increase in number, wealth, and power is a standing aggression. It would not be enough to please the Southern States that we should stop asking them to abolish slavery,--what they demand of us is nothing less than that we should abolish the spirit of the age. Our very thoughts are a menace. It is not the North, but the South, that forever agitates the question of Slavery. The seeming prosperity of the cotton-growing states is based on a great mistake and a great wrong; and it is no wonder that they are irritable and scent accusation in the very air. It is the stars in their courses that fight against their system..."
"It is time that the South should learn, if they do not begin to suspect it already, that the difficulty of the Slavery question is slavery itself,--nothing more, nothing less. It is time that the North should learn that it has nothing left to compromise but the rest of its self-respect. Nothing will satisfy the extremists at the South short of a reduction of the Free States to a mere police for the protection of an institution whose danger increases at an equal pace with its wealth."
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
"The issue before the country is the extinction of slavery. No man of common sense, who has observed the progress of events, and who is not prepared to surrender the institution, with the safety and independence of the South, can doubt that the time for action has come--now or never. The Southern States are now in the crisis of their fate; and, if we read aright the signs of the time, nothing is needed for our deliverance, but that the ball of revolution be set in motion."
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
This is taken from The Charleston Mercury Newspaper ,
December 21,1860 before the South Carolina Secession Ordinance which was passed by a vote of 169-0 .
"The 20th Day of December, in the Year of Our Lord, 1860.
Inscribed among the calends of the world - memorable in time to come -- the 20th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1860, has become an epoch in the history of the human race. A great Confederated Republic, overwrought with arrogant and tyrannous oppressions, has fallen from its high estate amongst the nations of the earth. Conservative liberty has been vindicated. Mobocratic license has been stricken down. Order has conquered, yet liberty has survived.
Right has raised his banner aloft, and bidden defiance to Might. The problem of self-government under the check- balance of slavery, has secured itself from threatened destruction.
South Carolina has resumed her entire sovereign powers, and, unshackled, has become one of the nations of the earth.
On yesterday, the 20th of December, 1860, just before one o'clock, p.m., the Ordinance of secession was presented by the Committee on "the Ordinance," to the Convention of the people of South Carolina. Precisely at seven minutes after one o'clock, the vote was taken upon the Ordinance -- each man's name being called in order. As name by name fell upon the ear of the silent assembly, the brief sound was echoed back, without one solitary exception in that whole
grave body -- Aye!
At 1:15 o'clock, p.m. - the last name was called, the Ordinance of Secession was announced to have been passed, and the last fetter had fallen from the limbs of a brave, but too long oppressed people.
The Convention sat with closed doors. But upon the announcement outside, and upon the MERCURY bulletin board, that South Carolina was no longer a member of the Federal Union, loud shouts of joy rent the air. The enthusiasm was unsurpassed. Old men went shouting down the streets. Cannon were fired, and bright triumph was depicted on every countenance.
But before the Great Seal of the State was affixed to the Ordinance of Secession, and the names of the Delegates to the Convention were signed, it was proposed that this ceremony should be postponed until 7 o'clock that evening; when the Convention should reassemble and move in procession from the St. Andrew's Hall, where they then sat, to the great Secession Hall; and that there, before the assembled citizens of the State, the Great Seal of the State should be
set, and each signature made. The proposition was favorably received.
At 6 1/2 o'clock p.m., the Convention reassembled at St. Andrew's Hall. At 6 3/4 o'clock p.m., they formed in procession and moved forward in silence to Secession Hall.
The building was filled to overflowing, and they were received by some three thousand people in the Hall.
The Convention was called to order. The scene was one profoundly grand and impressive. There were a people assembled through their highest representatives -- men most of them upon whose heads the snows of sixty winters had been shed -- patriarchs in age -- the dignitaries of the land -- the High Priests of the Church of Christ -- reverend statesmen -- and the wise judges of the law. In
the midst of deep silence, an old man, with bowed form, and hair as white as snow, the Rev. Dr. BACHMAN, advanced forward, with upraised hands, in prayer to Almighty God, for His blessing and favor in this great act of his people, about to be consummated. The whole assembly at once rose to its feet, and with hats off, listened to the touching and eloquent appeal to the All Wise Dispenser of events. At the close of the prayer the President advanced with the consecrated parchment upon which was inscribed the decision of the State, with the
Great Seal attached. Slowly and solemnly it was read unto the last word -- "dissolved" -- when men could contain themselves no longer, and a shout that shook the very building, reverberating, long-continued, rose to Heaven, and ceased only with the loss of breath. In proud, grave silence, the Convention itself waited the end with beating hearts.
The President then requested the Delegates (by previous decision) to step forward as they were called in the alphabetical order of the Districts which they represented, and sign the Ordinance. Two hours were occupied in this solemn ceremony - the crowd waiting patiently the end. As the delegation from St. Phillip's and St. Michael's came forward, again, the hall was filled with applause. And as the Hon. R.B. RHETT advanced to the parchment, the shouts became deafening, long-continued, until he had seated himself, signed and retired. It was a proud and worthy tribute, gracefully paid, and appreciated. The same special compliment was paid to our Ex-Governor GIST, who recommended in his message to the extra session, the immediate secession of South Carolina from the Union.
At the close of the signatures the President, advancing to the front of the platform, announced that the Seal of the State had been set, the signatures of the Convention put to the Ordinance, and he thereby proclaimed the State of South Carolina a separate, independent nationality.
To describe the enthusiasm with which this announcement was greeted, is beyond the power of the pen. The high, burning, bursting heart alone can realize it. A mighty voice of great thoughts and great emotions spoke from the mighty throat of one people as a unit.
The State of South Carolina has recorded herself before the universe. In reverence before God, fearless of man, unawed by power, unterrified by clamor, she has cut the Gordian knot of colonial dependence upon the North - cast her fortune upon her right, and her own right arm, and stands ready to uphold alike her independence and her dignity before the world. Prescribing to none, she will be dictated to by none willing for peace, she is ready for war. Deprecating blood, she is willing to shed it. Valuing her liberties, she will maintain them. Neither swerved by frowns of foes, nor swayed by timorous solicitations of friends, she will pursue her direct path, and establish for herself and for her posterity, her rights, her liberties and her institutions. Though friends may fail her in her need, though the cannon of her enemies may belch destruction
among her people, South Carolina, unawed, unconquerable, will still hold aloft her flag, "ANIMIS OPIBUSQUE PARATI." ["READY IN SPIRIT AND DEEDS"]"
__________________ 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.
Although this new site is currently down on Google, I'm looking forward with great interest to what it might contain. I saw this in the newspaper this morning.
Web site offers day-by-day look at Lincoln's life:
Even the Great Emancipator bought socks, talked to friends about their love lives and got bogged down in paperwork-a fact made clear by a new Web site that records his life in exacting detail.
"The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln" lists almost everything known about the 16th president's daily activities.
Visitors can find out what he was doing on a particular date (he spent Jan. 3, 1845, successfully arguing a case before the Illinois Supreme Court) or by searching on key words ("slave" produces 156 results).
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.
CivilWarTalk.com -
A free and friendly Civil War community. 
Linear Mode
