Why Didn T The South Have The Right To Secede

The secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860, by a vote of 169-0 was a response to the election of Abraham Lincoln of 1860. Lincoln perceived as an abolitionist wanted to contain slavery rather than ending it. The majority party above the Mason-Dixon line were Republicans and below were primarily Democrats and Republicans were viewed as abolitionists. The election of a Republican threatened the South’s status quo. The primary catalyst for secession was based on slavery. Different social cultures and political beliefs developed due to the South’s intimate and reliant relationship on slavery. Southern whites feared the end of slavery and this paranoia was shared among plantation slave owners and white Yeoman farmers. Southern whites felt that the North were threatening the supposed tranquility of the South. The South’s agrarian economy, honor, and independence were believed to be in danger. Slavery was intertwined with the South’s social, cultural, and economic makeup. As a result of slavery, the South developed a paternalistic culture and racial ideology of white supremacy. The perceived notion that the North was influencing it’s political and social beliefs on the South lead them to believe that secession was the only act of self-preservation. The growing differences between the South and North made it difficult to negotiate. This fear was exaggerated and accelerated the South’s eventual implosion. The South believed that without slavery it would self-destruct and

First off, the way they declared secession and proceeded to do so was illegal. To begin with everyday we recite the pledge of allegiance where it states, “one nation, indivisible”. Those southerners recited the same pledge we did and they recited themselves that this union is indivisible. Next, under the constitution of the United States of America secession was and always will be considered illegal because of Article 10 Section 1. In this part of the constitution it was illustrated that, “No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation….”. The southern states obviously did not follow that and violated the constitution they agreed to abide by themselves. When they concurred to join the Union they agreed to join an indivisible nation. Nowhere could they make a complaint worthy enough to try to separate for the states that they agreed to join, but of course they tried to with the controversial subject of slavery.

The slaves states secede from the Union since the South thought Abraham Lincoln would try to end slavery. To many southerners, it seemed that the South no longer had a voice in the national government(textbook 500). The southern states secede from the Union since they felt they had no voice in their own country anymore. The South thinks Abraham Lincoln was trying to take slavery away from them. Therefore, Many southerners favored secession as part of the idea that the states have rights and powers which the federal government cannot legally deny(Document 5). Many southerners favored secession as part of the idea that the states have rights and powers which the federal government cannot legally deny(Document 5) The South believed that Abraham Lincoln was against slavery which lead to the states

States rights were one of the major causes in the Civil War. The idea of state sovereignty was a controversial topic between republicans and democrats. The republicans withheld that the country was of the people, and the democrats believed America was comprised of individual sovereign states. The South interpreted the Declaration of Independence as an obligation to leave an oppressive government. "It is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government." The South believed that the North, by attempting to abolish slavery, was oppressing their rights to their own property.

One of the key factor contributing to the Civil War was States Rights. This refers to the struggle between federal government and individual states over political power. One side argued for greater state’s rights and those arguing felt that the Federal Government needed to have more control over states. The states felt they should have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. Meaning that states had the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional. The federal government denied states this right. When nullification would not work and states felts that they were no longer respected, they moved towards secession from the Union. The southern people were viewed as democratic and depended slaves for the plantations, they were devoted to agriculture and shipped cotton up north and favored low tariffs.

The first main cause of the Civil War was conflict between the North and the South about their slavery ideals. The North and the South had exceedingly different ideals about slavery. The South was a very hardworking section of the country, and they

The southern commissioners, politicians and committees justified seceding by arguing that allowing colored people freedom would degrade them, would endanger their property, rights, and the purity of their daughters, and would prohibit them from practicing their beliefs without

Why should the North have stopped the South from seceding? First, though, what is secession? Secession is one group or party withdrawing or leaving another group or party. The South wanted to secede because they disagreed with Abraham Lincoln, slavery, and state rights. But that wasn’t enough for them to secede. The North stopped the South from seceding because it would tear the country apart.

This shows that South Carolina had the right to secede because it was a sovereign state. It also shows how the South should have had the right to decide whether they would want to secede from the country or not. Another example is that when the Southern states joined the Union, it was voluntarily (Appleby et.al 556). “Nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of the union of the states being permanent.” (http:/civilwar.bluegrass.net). This shows that they should have the right to leave the Union if they choose to. They had this right because the South had no bind with the Union stating that they had to stay except for the United States constitution in which the North had already violated. Even though the United States constitution was what they looked at as a contract, the Union already desecrated its’ terms before this dispute. It also shows how the right was their own and the government could not control their choices in staying or not. These reasons and examples show how the South had to right to secede because of various reasons regarding the political state the government was in.

The secession occurred due to conflicts between the Northern and Southern states. The Northerners wanted the America to remain united as one nation while the Southerners believed that the formation of Confederate states would enable them to gain equality with the North. Therefore, the major factors that spearheaded the secession from the Union included conflicts on whether to continue or abolish slavery and economic disparities.

Going by this speech, there should have been no reason for secession as he promised he would not interfere with slavery where it already existed. However, Southerners still though of Lincoln as an abolitionist and were worried that he would completely abolish slavery. This emphasises that Southerners were unhappy that a Northern, anti-slavery party had won the presidency. As a result of Lincolns election, South Caroline, followed by six other states, seceded from the Union. This further divided the nation, which in turn led to the Civil War. Tulloch backs up this view as he argues that:

The southern states wanted to secede from the union due to the fear that north would restrict and outlawed the slavery. With Lincoln presidency the south states started their separation of the union. Lincoln made it very clear to the southern states that secede from the nation was illegal during a recite of his oath in Washington D.C. It was until Lincoln became president that the south finally exploded and decided to secede. They knew Lincoln was in favor of the north and will try harder to free slaves from the south states. The south didn’t listen and stand up against the north and made their first moves and attack the Fort Sumter. Due to this event Lincoln send military forces to enter in war with South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. This event marked the start of the Civil War; Lincoln mobilized his military forces to defend the U.S from confederates that were consider enemy. Therefore, due to the fact the southern were afraid that the north

The Southerners made the decision to succeed from the union because they thought their basic rights as US citizens were being infringed

There are several reasons why the Civil War was started. One of them were because of state rights vs. Federal government. The south wanted Independence and State rights, not a federal government because they feared that the federal government would gain too much power.and violate their rights. The North however,wanted to have the south not to secede from them and also to ban slavery forever.

South Carolina also accused the Northern states of instigating “a war [that would] be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States,” (South Carolina) through the election of Abraham Lincoln as president. In Georgia’s declaration of secession, the reasons for secession are cited as “numerous and serious causes of complaint” (Georgia) against the non-slave holding states that were centered on “the subject of African slavery” (Georgia). In Mississippi, the consensus in the same; Mississippi’s position in the issue “[was] thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery” (Mississippi) and goes to list many reasons pertaining to slavery for its secession, most notably 1) The North “has made combinations and formed associations to carry out its schemes of emancipation” (Mississippi), 2) “has nullified the Fugitive Slave Law in almost every free State in the Union” (Mississippi), and 3) “advocates negro equality” (Mississippi). For these as well as other reasons all pertaining to slavery, the Confederate States seceded from the Union. In the Southern States, as seen through the declarations of secession from the Confederate States, the people, along with the governments of those states all supported secession based on issues arising from the conflict over slavery.