1861
Within 3 months of Lincoln’s election
Confederates States organized
Constitution drafted
Capital (Montgomery AL) established
Secession by state convention
Constitution of 1787 ratified by state convention
Secession approved the same way (Texas)
1861
Majority of southern states favored “domino tactics”
Individual state secession
Convention of independent states
Formation of new confederacy
“Cooperationists”
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana
Desired cooperative action before secession
Ensure unity
OBE
1861
“Ultimatumists”
List of demands to Lincoln
Enforcement of fugitive slave laws
Guarantees of noninterference with slavery in D.C.
Noninterference with interstate slave trade
Protection of slavery in territories (south of 36-30)
1861
Some conservative southerners urged temperance
Give Lincoln a chance to prove how “moderate” he was
Only an overt act against southern rights cause to act
All were swept aside by torrent of events
“You might as well attempt to control a tornado as to
attempt to stop them.”
Fierce gaiety
1861
Not all State convention were unanimous
Alabama voted 39% against secession
Georgia 30%
Was there strong but silent Unionist feeling in the
south?
Probably not
“We scorn the Black Republicans, the state of Alabama
cannot and will not submit to the administration of Lincoln…we intend to
resist, but that resistance is based upon cooperation with the other slave
states.”
1861
Is secession constitutional?
Constitution is silent
Supporters
State sovereignty preceded federal sovereignty
Sovereignty not surrendered when Constitution ratified
This held even for the 5 seceding states that came into
the union after 1789
1861
Those southerners who couldn’t bring themselves to
believe this believed in the right to rebel against an unjust government
“A Confederate Army officer declared that he had “never
believed the Constitution recognized the right to secession. I took up arms, sir, upon a broader
ground-the right of revolution. We were
wronged. Our properties and our
liberties were about to be taken from us.
It was our sacred right to rebel.”
1861
“What are we fighting for?”
Right and Liberties
Own slaves
Liberty to take them into the territories
Freedom from coercive government
Freedom vs. Power
As of March Union no longer controlled by South
South could only protect its liberty by leaving the Union
1861
Non-slaveholders
Potential
Black Republicans?
Possibility
frightened many in the South
Many
“upcountry” delegates to states’ conventions were non-slave holders and opposed
to secession
Statistics
are a mixed message
Concern
remained high
1861
Campaign to convince non-slave holders
White supremacy
Slavery=poor man’s best government
Always superior to the black man
Abolition (Black Republicans) will make poor whites
slaves of the blacks
Democratic liberty only because of black slaves
Their existence promotes equality among the whites
1861
Alexander Stephens and “all men are created equal”
Our government is founded on exactly the opposite idea;
its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the
negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery . . . is his natural and
normal condition. This, our new
government, is is the first in the history of the world to be based on this
great physical, philosophical and moral truth."
1861
Legality of secession from unionists
James Buchanan
Union not a voluntary association
“…a more perfect union”
Articles of Confederation: “…the Union shall be
perpetual.”
Constitution “never intended to implant in it’s bosom the
seeds of its own destruction.”
1861
Lincoln
Secession=“essence of anarchy”
State sovereignty a “sophism”
Declaration of Independence created the Union
Constitution the law of the Union
There are no states outside the Union
States’ rights a sham
1861
As for
the “right of revolution”
Revolution=moral
right “when exercised in a morally justifiable cause.”
“when
exercised without such a cause revolution is no right, but simply a wicked
exercise of physical power.” A.
Lincoln
1861
What to
do?
Lame
Duck Syndrome
Buchanan
had the power, but not the will-felt no responsibility
Lincoln
felt responsible, had the will, but not the power
Buchanan:
Constitution
did not give power to secede
Gave no
power to coerce a state
Options
Coercion
Compromise
Letting
them go
Or:
1861
“Masterly
inactivity”
Watchful
waiting
No major
concessions
Avoid
needless provocation
Let
fever run its course
Depend
on Southern Unionists
Northern
sentiment
Several
northern senators felt that the secessionist states should be blotted out
“…swore
by everything in the Heavens above and the Earth beneath that they would
convert the rebel states into a wilderness.”
1861
Taxes and duties
Must be collected in the south
Lincoln orders Scott to be prepared to do so and defend
federal forts
Coercion or enforcement?
Either way, there were precious few resources
U.S. Army 16,000 all over the eastern seaboard and across
the frontier
Navy mostly patrolling in foreign waters or in repair
Southern militia the “readiest” armed force
1861
Compromise
Buchanan
Crittendon
Always called for legalization of slavery
Always too many concessions for Republicans
Not really compromises at all
“Go in peace” sentiment faded as fast as compromise hopes
Secession had occurred and nothing could call it back
1861
There was still some hope it wouldn’t spread
By February only 7 slave states were represented in
Montgomery
Motivation of compromise efforts was to keep the other
eight from joining
Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri elected majority of
unionists to state conventions
North Carolina and Tennessee vote not even to hold
conventions
Missouri, Arkansas and Virginia reject secession
Only 24% of families in upper south owned slaves
Seemed to confirm Republican belief in Southern Unionism
1861
But southern unionism was highly conditional
Coercion
In Montgomery a government was being organized
So in Washington
Lincoln has a problem
Republican party loose coalition
Appointed 4 main rivals to cabinet posts
William Seward-State
Edward Bates-Attorney General
Salmon Chase-Treasury
Simon Cameron-War
1861
Drafting of the first inaugural address
Keep “upper South” in the Union
Sneaking into Washington
Preserve undivided Union
7 “unseceded” states seizing Federal property
Pledged not to interfere with slavery where it existed
“…the Government will not assail you unless you assail
it.”
1861
Lincoln softened even this message
No threat to reclaim federal property
Only to “…hold occupy and possess” and to “collect duties
and imposts.”
Ambiguity was not lost on anyone
Republicans found it firm but moderate
Secessionists thought it a declaration of war.
Northern Democrats and “upper Southerners” reaction
mixed, but encouraging
1861
Coercion
Ft Sumter
1 miles into Charleston Harbor in South Carolina
16 guns
650 soldiers
In Dec 1861 unoccupied but for worker completing it
80 soldiers of garrison in Fort Moultrie
1861
1861
Maj Robert Anderson
Kentucky
Slave owner
Unionist
Requested reinforcements
Buchanan refused
Moves troops to Sumter
The Star of the West
What to do about Sumter?
1861
Southern “fire eaters” urged an attack on Sumter to bring
the Upper south into the fold
9 April 1861 cabinet meeting in Montgomery
Beauregard ordered to reduce the fort
First shot 0430 12 April
After 33 hours and 4,000 shells the post surrendered
14 April Southern army occupies Sumter