Rebellion!

On Christmas Eve, 1860, the people of South Carolina formally adopted the following declaration:

We, therefore, the People of South Carolina . . . have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world, as a separate and independent State; with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.

What document does this resemble? Why do you think that was the case?Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. Click here for a possible answer.

This text resembles the Declaration of Independence. The people of South Carolina wanted to compare the present U.S. government to the tyranny of England and assert their right to leave the country just like the colonists did in 1776.

With that statement, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. One by one, Southern states left the Union. They then recombined into the Confederate States of America (CSA) on February 4, 1861. By the timeInteractive popup. Assistance may be required. Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office a month later, seven states, including Texas, had left the United States of America. Soon thereafter, another four joined them.

Why South Carolina?

Of all the Southern states, South Carolina was always the most defensive about states' rights and hostile over the possible abolition of slavery. It nearly seceded during the tariff crisis in the Jackson administration. When South Carolina left the Union, a prominent citizen who opposed the Confederacy said, "South Carolina is too small to be a republic. And too large to be an insane asylum."

Why was this? Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. Click to view a population chart of the Southern states and then write in your notes a major reason for their eagerness to rebel.

Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. View a Possible Answer In South Carolina slaves out-numbered free citizens, 402,406 to 301,302. The white population feared the consequences of their emancipation as full citizens or a slave rebellion. Only Mississippi had a greater percentage of its population as slaves, but South Carolina has a special status as an original state.

Map Activity

Compare the map of the United States shown below with the map of the slave population of southern states found here.

Answer the questions that follow using your notes.

Source: United States 1861 02-04-1861, Wikimedia

1. What 11 states joined the CSA?Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.

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   Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia
2. Comparing the two maps, what four states remained in the Union but had slaves? Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.

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   Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland
   The Confederacy claimed Missouri and Kentucky and many citizens of those states fought for the South, but the states never formally seceded.
3. Why was it important that Maryland, despite having slaves, not secede? Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.

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   If Maryland had seceded, Washington D.C. would have been surrounded by Confederate states, and the United States would have almost surely lost its capital city from the start of the war.
4. Looking at the slave map of Texas, why do you think it is shaded darker in the eastern part of the state? Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.

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   The geography of the eastern part of Texas is more similar to the rest of the Deep South and conducive to plantation farming. It would therefore have the greater demand for slaves. The climate gets drier as you move west. Also, in the 19th century much of the trade through Texas was centered in Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico, making it a population center and therefore increasing the likelihood of a greater slave population.
5. What role do you think California and Oregon played in the Civil War? Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.

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   Not much
   Someone from those states would have had to cross the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains or sail all the way around the tip of South America to reach the fighting.

Government of the Confederacy

The CSA called itself a "Confederacy" instead of a "Union" to emphasize the individual sovereignty of the states. They believed their secession upheld the true spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the original Constitution of the United States, both largely written by Southerners (Virginians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectively).

Therefore, the Confederate Constitution, aside from some style changes and the explicit protection of the right to own slaves, was almost a direct copy of the U.S. Constitution. It did make two interesting changes to the presidency.

First, the president could only serve one term in office, but it would last six years instead of four. Second, the president had the power to selectively veto parts of a bill, not just the whole thing. This is known as the line-item veto. In 1996, the U.S. Congress gave the same power to President Bill Clinton, but the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.

These are both presidential reforms that people continue to debate today.