Secession Dbq Essay
There is certainly no shortage of opinion on whether the southern states had the right to secede from the union in 1860-61. After all, northern state governments as well as the election of Lincoln placed the south into a defensive posture to protect their particular institution. Secession has a long history in world governmental intercourse and the founding of American independence did not inoculate them from the threats of secession. States began to discuss secession even before the ink had dried on the new constitution. Justification, regardless as to the state threatening secession, was founded on the belief that the states had the right to govern themselves and the right of the people to abolish a government when it becomes destructive
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First and foremost was their concern for what they perceive as violations by the federal government in enforcing both article IV of the constitution and the requirements of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. Interestingly, not one state in writing their Ordinance of Secession referenced the tenth amendment which purportedly was the foundation of later arguments on states’ rights. Essentially, the states right argument supposes the states have a right to secede as all “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States…” Although none of the seceding states in their Ordinance of Secession proclamations make any reference to their independent and sovereign status as rationalization for secession, John Grahm in his book A Constitutional History of Secession makes several references to the fact that the states maintained their independence and sovereignty as states, primarily based on their status under the Articles of Confederation. However, Grahm further supports his position that the states were independent and sovereign by referencing King George IIIs statement at the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War where the King referred to each state by name and claimed they be “free, sovereign, and independent states.” They were; from British
First and foremost was their concern for what they perceive as violations by the federal government in enforcing both article IV of the constitution and the requirements of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. Interestingly, not one state in writing their Ordinance of Secession referenced the tenth amendment which purportedly was the foundation of later arguments on states’ rights. Essentially, the states right argument supposes the states have a right to secede as all “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States…” Although none of the seceding states in their Ordinance of Secession proclamations make any reference to their independent and sovereign status as rationalization for secession, John Grahm in his book A Constitutional History of Secession makes several references to the fact that the states maintained their independence and sovereignty as states, primarily based on their status under the Articles of Confederation. However, Grahm further supports his position that the states were independent and sovereign by referencing King George IIIs statement at the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War where the King referred to each state by name and claimed they be “free, sovereign, and independent states.” They were; from British