Why Did South Carolina Leave The Union?

Throughout history, people have gone to extreme lengths to secure their economic well being. The people in the Southern states were no different in this regard, and for this reason we affirm the resolution that the South was justified to secede from the Union. Before going any farther, we must define key terms in the resolution. The South refers to the 11 states who became the Confederate States of America. The Union was the United States in 1860. Lastly, justified means done for a legitimate reason, in this case in the context of the political and economic circumstances of the time. We support our affirmation with the following contention: that the South’s economic interests were in such danger that they took the only path available to them

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.

There are many other reasons that the south seceded from the union but those are just a few. The differences in economies, the protective tariff act, and the Election of 1850. Even though not all of the people of the south wanted to secede from the union, they still did, which eventually lead to the Civil War of the United

Disagreements between the North and South over State’s rights, interpretation of the constitution, and tariffs were more significant as to the cause of the Civil War than the opposing views on slavery. Even today there are still hard feelings between the north and south and democrats and republicans because of how things turned out during the Civil War. There are also still differences of opinion as to the true reason for this war. This being said, it could be easily assumed that slavery was the key issue. But as we all know, the emancipation proclamation was not signed until after the war began, which showed that freeing slaves wasn’t the priority.

The slavery matter caused the sectionalism between the North and the South: “There most certainly was sectional conflict between North and South over slavery-related matters...” America’s image or reputation in the international communities was also a part of the reasons that the northerners supported the abolishment of slavery. They cared about it because the trades with overseas countries were largely carried on in the North. Moreover, by 1865, most of more developed and influential countries at that time already abolished slavery, but slavery still existed in the U.S. Although the abolitionists were a minor group of anti-slavery people in the North, they argued to abolish slavery partially because they, as the northerners, worried about the America’s international image and how this would affect their trades and economy. The northern states could have seceded as they were wealthier, but with an economical reason, they needed the raw materials such as cotton from the south. Therefore, it was better for them to maintain the Union and also the secession is unconstitutional.

One of the most prevalent justifications and causes for southern secession was the protection of state and citizen rights. More specifically, the protection of the rights given to them, and protected by, the fifth amendment of the Constitution. This amendment protected the rights to property that American citizens possessed, which in the south translated into the protection of their slaves, whom they considered their property. The majority of southern opinion was that the northern states, or the union, were attempting to “strike down the rights of [the] Southern slave-holder and override every barrier which their constitution has erected for his protection” (Document 2, p. 93). By this, the southern opinion was arguing that the northern majority in the federal government was intentionally limiting southern citizens’ constitutional rights, which in the 1860’s was a serious accusation. The most common instance used to support this was the, in the southern opinion, disregard for the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Many secessionists pointed out that this law was meant to protect property rights, but that multiple northern states were attempting to nullify it (Document 2, p. 94), thereby attacking southern rights in addition to the federal laws in place.

Why did the southern states seceded from the union? It was a good life in america before the southern states seceded there were equal numbers of slaves in free states, the south started many tobacco plantation, the North work in factories. Southern states seceded from the union because of slavery, differences how they made money, and because of political disagreements.

Many people always wonder why did the South secede from the union. With Abraham Lincoln winning the election in 1860, and the protective tariffs that were being made the South wasn’t so happy to be in the Union with the North. Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe was just putting more fuel in the fire, and that was another reason why the South seceded. The South seceded from the North because of the events that irritated the South and they seceded.

The Confederate States decided to secede from the United States in 1860 starting with South Carolina and was followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama. Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas about 2 months later in 1861. The South justified seceding from the Union because the Northern states were failing to do what was required of them, some states were elevating free blacks and using their votes to support anti-slavery policies, and the Republican Party was planning to wage war on slavery upon taking office.

Southern states seceded from the Union because they wanted slavery. “Many Northerners viewed slavery as wrong. Abolitionists wanted to end slavery and some helped slaves escape to the north” (Doc 4). The quote shows that the north and the south saw slavery differently. The north was mainly abolitionists and helped slaves escape but the south wanted slavery to continue. The north didn’t want slavery to continue and decided to help them but

The southern states had no life threatening reason for them to go against the North but they made it seem as if their life depended on it. What did they really secede for? Southerners thought that after Lincoln was elected that slavery was going to end, the government would become too powerful, and that the South would be controlled and told how they should live. As if the South had no choice in any matters, they ran from the problem instead of facing it because it could have been settled mannerly but they went ahead doing their own business like if they knew how to rule a country. Then, what happens? The Civil War starts. It began when the Confederate states whined and wanted the Union fort and soldiers out of their Confederate land even though they weren’t doing anything wrong or offense towards the Confederacy. On April 12, l861 in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina at Fort Sumter, a Union fort, the Confederates decided to open fire with cannons after the troops refused to

The continuously irreconcilable conflicts, especially on slavery, between the South and the North during mid 19th century eventually led to the secession of the State of South Carolina and six other states after the election of Abraham Lincoln. When they felt their interests to be threatened, the white southerners used the secession as a powerful weapon to against emancipating slavery and to protect their own rights. Actually, the disagreements on the future of slavery were the chief reason causing the increasing gap between the South and the North, and there are three primary reasons why the seven southern states chose to secede from the Union after they realized they could not reach a satisfactory conclusion about slavery issues with the northern states.

From the secession documents it is clearly stated that the main reason for secession and war revolves around slavery. However, as slavery were the main reason for secession, trade, tariffs, and states rights played a role too. In the perspective of Georgia, it is stated that they have had complaints filed by non slave holding states and is wearing their security and domestic peace. In the perspective of Mississippi, they identified themselves through the institution of slavery, “the greatest material interest of the world.” These materials are necessities for Mississippi and the seceded from the Union

The south Seceded from the union because of two reasons. First, the south felt threatened by the growing number of free slave states joining the union and feared that slavery would become out ruled. Second, the south feared that president Abraham Lincoln was going to ban slavery through the country. While examining the events that lead to the attack on Fort Sumter we can see that all the causes and events that led to the Civil War revolved around slavery. For example, the secession of the south was caused by the south’s fear of the ban on

South Carolina and the other southern states to follow, announced their intentions to leave the Union. They believed that since they voluntarily joined the Union, they could voluntarily withdraw as well.[7] During Lincoln’s attempt to stop the secession, more southern states joined the Confederates, and thus due to, but not only to these political factors, the civil war was slowly induced.