Reasons for Confederate Secession

 

The events leading to the American Civil War were some of the most contentious issues in the history of the United States. They involved a situation where there were considerable questions concerning state sovereignty and the level of authority that the federal government cold exercise over them. In addition, there were also questions concerning the status of states within the American Constitution, especially considering that they had gained independence as independent states prior to the formation of the United States. These matters of contention almost led to the demise of the nation as it had originally been constituted and this situation was only avoided through a bloody civil war. In this paper, there will be an attempt to make use of primary sources to gain an understanding of the reasons the Confederate states felt justified to leave the Union. The issues discussed will include state rights, slave ownership, and the threat of the federal government to use force to enforce its policies.

One of the biggest reasons behind the Confederate states choosing to leave the Union was that the federal government interfered in states sovereign rights. This argument was justified through the belief that the states that had formed the Union had done so because out of their own free will as independent nations.[1] Therefore, they also had the right to determine their own internal affairs without the interference of the federal government. Another justification was that the role of the federal government was to ensure that there was the advancement of the interests of all the states in such a way that it oversaw their mutual defense, as seen during the war for independence from Great Britain.[2] Apart from these functions, the federal government was to essentially make sure that it left the states to determine their own futures because they had absolute sovereignty over their own affairs. This attitude, held by most Confederate states, especially South Carolina, was highly contentious because the latter state had been among one of the biggest proponents of the formation of a strong central government that would oversee the activities of all the states within the Union. Moreover, because of the potential of the breakup of the Union, then President Abraham Lincoln had made a speech urging for a negotiated settlement of the conflict with Confederate states in such a way that allowed them to gradually align their policies with those of the federal government; ensuring that their rights as states were secured.[3]

Another issue that was used to justify secession was the idea that the federal government had turned as tyrannical as that of the government of Great Britain prior to the fight for American independence. South Carolina was especially of the belief that it reserved the sovereign right to declare its independence from the Union if it felt that the latter had become tyrannical.[4] It compared the federal government to Great Britain, which had involved itself in so many commitments across the world that it had forced its burden on its empire. According to the leadership of South Carolina, it was specifically because the British parliament had sought to impose its will on the thirteen American colonies, which had previously had the right to govern themselves, that had led to the revolt that created the United States of America. Therefore, this state seems to have believed that it reserved the right to declare independence from the Union based on its right to rebel against any form of tyranny that infringed on its right of self-determination. However, President Lincoln, especially in his letter to Horace Greely, seemed to suggest that he was a believer in the role of the federal government in guiding the course of the Union. A result is that he sought to ensure that the conflict between the states comes to an end because he believed in the restoration of the authority of the Union over the states. His determination to end slavery was based on his belief that it is the only way through which the Union can be saved.[5] Thus, rather than exercising tyranny, the federal government seems have been seeking to ensure that it advances the interests of the Union in general because slavery is seen to be no longer feasible.

Another matter of contention from the Confederate states that led to their secession was that there was interference in their ownership of slaves. This argument was based on the belief that non-slave owning states had taking the initiative to impose their ideas on slave owning ones. South Carolina especially argued against tribunals in states such as New York, which essentially declined to ensure that they restored runaway slaves to their owners.[6] The interference with what they considered their rightful property made the slave owning states feel that they were being discriminated against within the Union and the result was that they sought to advance their own interests through seceding from the Union and forming their own confederacy. This initiative was opposed by the federal government, which believed that the time had come to ensure that slavery was brought to an end.[7] With an increase in initiatives aimed at promoting free labor market, slavery was no longer considered feasible and the result was that there was an attempt by the federal government to ensure that it charted a more advanced future for the nation based on industrialization. The attempt to achieve this goal seems to have been considered a threat by the Confederate states, because they sought to ensure that their slave owning rights were maintained through a withdrawal from the Union.

One of the biggest justifications for secession from the Union by Confederate states was that the federal government had plans to bring about the forceful removal of slavery in the South. Under such circumstances, they felt the need to protect their interests against the tyranny of the federal government through withdrawing from the Union and seeking to bring about a situation where they had self-determination.[8] Their determination to attain freedom from federal jurisdiction failed to have considered that the federal government had no intention of making them end slavery immediately. Instead, the process was to have been gradual in such a way that ensured the Southern states were able to adjust to the economic realities that were increasingly becoming prevalent at the time. Therefore, the decision by the Confederate states to leave the Union was immature because it failed to consider that they had a lot of bargaining power with the federal government that would have been to their advantage. Moreover, these states failed to consider that the federal government was determined to end slavery for humanitarian reasons.[9] Instead, they only saw the situation from their own perspective, which was based on the belief that slaves were property, irrespective of their status as fellow human beings. This was a significant challenge when it came to the federal government, which saw slavery as no longer being feasible.

In conclusion, the primary sources dealing with the secession of the Confederate states show that their actions were premature and that they were motivated more by the need to maintain a slave economy rather than defending themselves against tyranny. These states seem to have been determined to ensure that they advanced their own interests in such a way that negotiations with a federal government that they considered hostile did not take place. A result was that the United States ended up in a civil war that was to determine the survival of the Union.

---

[1] James W Loewen and Edward H Sebesta, The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The" Great Truth" About the" Lost Cause" (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2011), 113.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Abraham Lincoln, "Speeches and Writings, 1859-1865, Ed," Donald Fehrenbacher (New York: Library of America, 1989)  (1859): 307.

[4] Loewen and Sebesta, 120.

[5] Lincoln,  358.

[6] Loewen and Sebesta, 115.

[7] Lincoln,  358.

[8] Loewen and Sebesta, 124.

[9] Lincoln,  353.