Secession Acts of the Thirteen Confederate States

This author read through the Confederate states secession acts in hopes of finding more clues about the state’s decisions to leave the Union. It is not necessary to read the provided acts, but they are here to aid the author’s critical thinking in this matter. The link with the full succession letters is http://www.civilwar.org/…/primarys…/declarationofcauses.html

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, simply dissolved all ties to the "The Constitution of the United States of America" and declared themselves Sovereign and independent (Civil War Trust, 2014b). Very simple invocations of succession from the Union were penned by these states. The remaining 5 states made declarations that suggest the Union was not the best alternative for these states who wished to be Sovereign so they will be considered separately.

Alabama

Alabama mentions "state institutions" and some other interesting data. “Be it resolved by the people of Alabama in Convention assembled, That the people of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, be and are hereby invited to meet the people of the State of Alabama, by their Delegates, in Convention, on the 4th day of February, A.D., 1861, at the city of Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, for the purpose of consulting with each other as to the most effectual mode of securing concerted and harmonious action in whatever measures may be deemed most desirable for our common peace and security” (Civil War Trust, 2014b, para.14). It seems interesting that Alabama is asking the other Confederate states for council as if one may not have previously occurred.

Texas

Texas claimed that the Union government was not protecting them on the front as well as stating that "the recent developments in Federal affairs make it evident that the power of the Federal Government is sought to be made a weapon with which to strike down the interests and property of the people of Texas, and her sister slave-holding States, instead of permitting it to be, as was intended, our shield against outrage and aggression" (Civil War Trust, 2014b, para.24). Slavery doesn't seem to be mentioned again in this 6-paragraph succession act.

Virginia

Virginia’s secession act states that "having declared that the powers granted under said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slave-holding States" (Civil War Trust, 2014b, para.28).

Arkansas

Arkansas stated that "Whereas, in addition to the well-founded causes of complaint set forth by this convention, in resolutions adopted on the 11th of March, A.D. 1861, against the sectional party now in power in Washington City, headed by Abraham Lincoln, he has, in the face of resolutions passed by this convention pledging the State of Arkansas to resist to the last extremity any attempt on the part of such power to coerce any State that had seceded from the old Union, proclaimed to the world that war should be waged against such States until they should be compelled to submit to their rule, and large forces to accomplish this have by this same power been called out, and are now being marshaled to carry out this inhuman design; and to longer submit to such rule, or remain in the old Union of the United States, would be disgraceful and ruinous to the State of Arkansas" (Civil War Trust, 2014b, para.33). Neither slavery nor "institutions" are mentioned.

Missouri

Missouri states "whereas the Government of the United States, in the possession and under the control of a sectional party, has wantonly violated the compact originally made between said Government and the State of Missouri, by invading with hostile armies the soil of the State, attacking and making prisoners the militia while legally assembled under the State laws, forcibly occupying the State capitol, and attempting through the instrumentality of domestic traitors to usurp the State government, seizing and destroying private property, and murdering with fiendish malignity peaceable citizens, men, women, and children, together with other acts of atrocity, indicating a deep-settled hostility toward the people of Missouri and their institutions” (Civil War Trust, 2014b, para. 47).

Kentucky

The secession act of Kentucky names many grievances that are clues to happenings in the South that led up to decisions to leave the Union. It states "the majority of the Legislature of Kentucky have violated their most solemn pledges made before the election, and deceived and betrayed the people; have abandoned the position of neutrality assumed by themselves and the people, and invited into the State the organized armies of Lincoln; have abdicated the Government in favor of a military despotism which they have placed around themselves, but cannot control, and have abandoned the duty of shielding the citizen with their protection; have thrown upon our people and the State the horrors and ravages of war, instead of attempting to preserve the peace, and have voted men and money for the war waged by the North for the destruction of our constitutional rights; have violated the expressed words of the constitution by borrowing five millions of money for the support of the war without a vote of the people; have permitted the arrest and imprisonment of our citizens, and transferred the constitutional prerogatives of the Executive to a military commission of partisans; have seen the writ of habeus corpus suspended without an effort for its preservation, and permitted our people to be driven in exile from their homes; have subjected our property to confiscation and our persons to confinement in the penitentiary as felons, because we may choose to take part in a cause for civil liberty and constitutional government against a sectional majority waging war against the people and institutions of fifteen independent States of the old Federal Union, and have done all these things deliberately against the warnings and vetoes of the Governor and the solemn remonstrances of the minority in the Senate and House of Representatives (Civil War Trust, 2014b, para.51). It surely seems like slavery is not the only reason that the Confederates succeeded from the Union. For the last piece of evidence a Robert E. Lee letter will be presented.

Robert E. Lee's Letter to General Winfield Scott

“Transcript:
Arlington, Washington City, P.O.
20 Apr 1861

Lt. Genl Winfield Scott
Commd U.S. Army

Genl,
Since my interview with you on the 18th Inst: I have felt that I ought not longer to retain any Commission in the Army. I therefore tender my resignation which I request you will recommend for acceptance. It would have been presented at once but for the struggle it has Cost me to separate myself from a Service to which I have divoted all the best years of my life, & all the ability I possessed. During the whole of that time, more than a quarter of a century, I have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiors & the most Cordial friendships from any Comrades. To no one Genl have I been as much indebted as to yourself for kindness & Consideration & it has always been my ardent desire to merit your approbation. I shall carry with me, to the grave the most grateful recollections
of your kind Consideration, & your name & fame will always be dear to me. Save in the defense of my native state shall I ever again draw my sword. Be pleased to accept any more [illegible] wishes for “the Continuance of your happiness & prosperity & believe me

Most truly yours”
R E Lee” (Lee, 1861)

This whole letter has been included for reader consideration. “Save in the defense of my native state shall I ever again draw my sword” as penned in the last of this letter indicates that Mr. Lee may have realized he’d be on the offense if he served the Union during the Civil War.

Robert E. Lee's Letter to General Winfield Scott

Paper. L 32.7, W 29.3 cm
Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, ARHO 5623

Closing Remarks

This article has presented evidence and clues there was more to the Civil War than slavery. Approximately 650,000 Confederate and Union soldiers and perhaps 50,000 Southern civilians lost their lives while millions have been impoverished for generations due to the Civil War (Scruggs, 2005). In December of 1861 Charles Dickens who despised slavery penned this in a London weekly publication, “the Northern onslaught upon slavery is no more than a piece of specious humbug disguised to conceal its desire for economic control of the United States…Union means so many millions a year lost to the South; secession means loss of the same millions to the North. The love of money is the root of this as many, many other evils. The quarrel between the North and South is, as it stands, solely a fiscal quarrel” (Scruggs, 2005). Karl Marx favored the North and wrote this for major British papers, “the war between the North and South is a tariff war. The war, is further, not for any principle, does not touch the question of slavery, and in fact turns on the Northern lust for power” (Scruggs, 2005).

Abraham Lincoln and social equality, slavery in the South, slavery in the North, Abraham Lincoln and slavery, plans for resettlement, the Emancipation Proclamation, “contraband camp” atrocities, the role of private bankers in America, the Morrill Tariff Act, agents reported swarming the South, Lincoln becomes President, Fort Sumter, July 4^th message to Congress, Salmon P, Chase, possible Masonic connections, the Secession Acts of the Thirteen Confederate States, Robert E. Lee's letter to General Winfield Scott, and the closing remarks have been presented in this article. This author is not a historian, she is just someone who wanted to better understand how brothers can go to war with each other and documented her search. This author does NOT claim to know the "truth" do not claim to know the truth; in fact, this article will be closed with a Socrates quote and a smart ass-meme made to remind myself and others that closed minds are dangerous things and my mind needs to remain open.