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.
But the South Carolina African slave-trade extremists refused to surrender. They had brought on the "great movement" for Southern secession in order to proclaim the rightness of the African slave trade and slavery. Thus they agitated for amendments to strike out the African slave-trade prohibition even after the South Carolina convention had ratified the Confederate Constitution. Finally, on April 5, they won a limited victory. The convention resolved that as soon as the Confederacy was securely established and in peaceful operation, South Carolina should call for the meeting of a national convention to consider repeal of the Confederate Constitutional prohibition of the African slave trade
Unionblue
Confederate Constitution
SECTION IX.
1. The importation of negroes of the African race, from any foreign country, other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same.
2. Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of, or Territory not belonging to, this Confederacy.
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South Carolina Resolution of April 5-
3. In lieu of the first and second clauses of the ninth Section of the first Article, to insert the following: "Congress shall have power to prohibit the importation or introduction of slaves from any region not a State or Territory of this Confederacy." http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/southcar/south.html
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This amendment would not reopen the African slave trade.
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
And this part of the Confederate Constitution does what to the idea that those who wanted to reopen the African slave trade after the Confederacy was more secure (i.e. after the war)?
Plus, how does this negate the historical fact that Rhett and others protested this very passage at the Confederate Constitutional Convention while it was in progress?
Battalion, the simple, historical fact of the matter is, there was a group of Southerners, some in state and federal government before the war, some in newspapers and business, who wanted the slave trade reopened and that some would not leave this issue alone, even after the constitution you quote was in effect.
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
1. The importation of negroes of the African race, from any foreign country, other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same.
This is commonly regarded to be, at least in large part, a propaganda move by the new Confederacy. In the first place, it would placate British and European anti-slavery forces at a time when the Southerners were seeking diplomatic recognition. In the second place, it would offer a guarantee to the Upper South states like Virginia that were net exporters of slaves, making large profits on the sale of slaves to the Deep South.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Battalion
2. Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of, or Territory not belonging to, this Confederacy.
If the prohibition of the African slave trade in #1 is the carrot for the Upper South, this is the stick. This section is regarded as a threat to ruin the Upper South states if they do not secede and join the new Confederacy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Battalion
South Carolina Resolution of April 5-
3. In lieu of the first and second clauses of the ninth Section of the first Article, to insert the following: "Congress shall have power to prohibit the importation or introduction of slaves from any region not a State or Territory of this Confederacy." http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/southcar/south.html
OK, once again, let's see what you aren't showing us. As usual, the part you omitted is in blue italics:
=====
THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
At a Convention of the People of the State of South Carolina, reassembled by appointment of the President thereof, at Charleston, on the twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and thence continued by divers adjournments, to the fifth day of April, in the same year.
Resolved, That so soon as the Government of the Confederate States of America, created by the "Constitution" which has been now ratified, shall be securely established, and in peaceful operation, the State of South Carolina ought to "demand" that, two other States concurring, the Congress shall summon a Convention of all the States, to take into consideration the following amendments to the said Constitution, to wit: 1. To amend the second Section of the first Article, by striking out from the third clause thereof the following words, to wit: "which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years," and the words, "three-fifths of all slaves," and inserting after the words, "respective numbers," the words, "including slaves." 2. To strike out the second clause of the eighth Section of the first Article, and insert: "The Congress shall not contract any debt except for war purposes; and all expenditures in excess of revenues from imports (which shall not exceed fifteen per cent. ad valorem) and other sources, shall be met by direct taxation, to be provided for by the Congress authorizing the expenditure." 3. In lieu of the first and second clauses of the ninth Section of the first Article, to insert the following: "Congress shall have power to prohibit the importation or introduction of slaves from any region not a State or Territory of this Confederacy." 4. To amend the third Section of the fourth Article by adding to the first clause thereof, the words: "Nor shall any State in which African slavery does not, by law, exist, be admitted, without the consent of all the States, expressed through their respective Legislatures." Done at Charleston, the fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
D. F. JAMISON,
President of the Convention.
Attest: B. F. ARTHUR,
Clerk of the Convention. =====
Now, let's note that this is a rather silly resolution by the South Carolina Secession Convention about what they ought to "demand" that the Confederate Government do, based on only three states concurring out of the seven in the Confederacy at that point. Some might call that bold; some might call it arrogance -- but it really has no effect on Confederate actions.
BTW, was there a reason why you left out the parts #1 & 4 (relating to slavery) and part #2 (relating to the Confederate Tariff) of the South Carolina "demand"?
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
BTW, was there a reason why you left out the parts #1 & 4 (relating to slavery) and part #2 (relating to the Confederate Tariff) of the South Carolina "demand"?
The subject discussed here is the importation of slaves from Africa.
The third of the SC resolutions is the only one that deals with that issue.
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
John "The Gremlin" Pope seems to be active tonight.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Now, let's note that this is a rather silly resolution by the South Carolina Secession Convention about what they ought to "demand" that the Confederate Government do, based on only three states concurring out of the seven in the Confederacy at that point. Some might call that bold; some might call it arrogance -- but it really has no effect on Confederate actions.
Arrogance is accurate but understated. The ink isn't dry on the Constitution yet and SC is making noises like she's the head chef in the kitchen.
Do we know what was the reaction among the other states when that resolution came up?
It boils down to this, Battalion: The Constitution and official papers notwithstanding, There were, as unionblue insists, some powerful people who advocated, however unofficially. reopening the slave trade. It may well have been, had the Confederacy survived that pratfall, that the Confederate Congress would have left its Constitutional provisions unaltered and importation would have remained prohibited. I'll accept that they meant what they said. But. There were powerful people already working behind the scenes. And re-elections would have come around soon enough.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Arrogance is accurate but understated. The ink isn't dry on the Constitution yet and SC is making noises like she's the head chef in the kitchen.
Do we know what was the reaction among the other states when that resolution came up?
It boils down to this, Battalion: The Constitution and official papers notwithstanding, There were, as unionblue insists, some powerful people who advocated, however unofficially. reopening the slave trade. It may well have been, had the Confederacy survived that pratfall, that the Confederate Congress would have left its Constitutional provisions unaltered and importation would have remained prohibited. I'll accept that they meant what they said. But. There were powerful people already working behind the scenes. And re-elections would have come around soon enough.
ole
It would take a vote of 2/3 of the Confederate States to amend the Constitution (at least nine of thirteen states).
Not likely.
ARTICLE V
Section I. (I) Upon the demand of any three States, legally assembled in their several conventions, the Congress shall summon a convention of all the States, to take into consideration such amendments to the Constitution as the said States shall concur in suggesting at the time when the said demand is made; and should any of the proposed amendments to the Constitution be agreed on by the said convention, voting by States, and the same be ratified by the Legislatures of two- thirds of the several States, or by conventions in two-thirds thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the general convention, they shall thenceforward form a part of this Constitution. But no State shall, without its consent, be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate.
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
I'd posit that the powerful people in the South have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. They would have to know that reopening the trade would be an affront to the UK and in 1860 you don't do that.
I'd posit that the powerful people in the South have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. They would have to know that reopening the trade would be an affront to the UK and in 1860 you don't do that.
And, in that CW. you'd be correct. But I was hinting at the 1866 elections when the fire-eaters might have been able to change the composition of the congress
But I've mostly figured that, had the Confederacy become an independent nation, South Carolina would be the first to secede from the Confederacy because it would object to its "subjugation" by a majority.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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