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.
Personally, I think it all goes back to lost glory. South Carolina had been the richest of the colonies before the Revolution; Charleston had been considered the finest and most cultured city in the American colonies, often described as a mini-London. As the nation grew, they had lost that pre-eminence. IMHO, some of them were simply jealous and wanted the prestige back. Pride of place and arrogance, hand in hand, leading to foolish actions and disastrous results, for them and for the nation -- we all paid a heavy price for their folly.
I think it is also the only state with an absolute slave majority.
__________________ 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
The actual numbers are rattling around the empty spaces. Think it was a percentage point or two difference, but yes, SC led.
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
South Carolina - 402,406 Slaves 301,302 Free 57% slaves
__________________ "In mortal combat, a man may and will become so infuriated by the din and dangers of a bloody fight that his heart will turn to stone and his every de sire [be] for blood."
John Hadley, 7th Indiana after the battle at Port Republic
South Carolina - 402,406 Slaves 301,302 Free 57% slaves
Looking at these mumbers makes it clear why a state like South Carolina wants to change the formula for counting slaves for voting purposes.
Using the 3/5ths rule, South Carolina has a "population" of 542,745. Counting slaves as whole persons, it has a "population" of 703,708. With a Representative in Congress for every 50,000, under one system South Carolina has 11 Congressmen and under the other it has 14.
Counting slaves on a 1-for-1 basis not only increases the voting power of South Carolina in Congress, it also concentrates that power in the hands of relatively fewer actual voters (since the slaves actually had no voice), making South Carolina slaveholders relatively more powerful. The same, of course, for Mississippi and other slave-heavy states.
If you are, OTOH, a state with a smaller percentage of slaves, you would be opposed to this rule change. In particular, a state such as NC, VA, TN, KY, MD, DE, MO considering joining the Confederacy, the South Carolina proposal to change the ratio would give you pause, because it would guarantee greater power to the Deep South.
Regards,
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.
If only they had issued a study, at that time, of the capabilities of a Confederacy to supply armies, build steamboats, build steam engines, foundries, build ironclads, make railroad rails, produce armaments, supply horses/mules; supply forage; transport wartime necessities.
By the time the Confederacy realized these shortages, it was too late to admit any error and to turn back.
Just to bring this old thread back to the front for those who haven't seen it.
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.
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