South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession

Audience

The South Carolina declaration targeted four audiences: the people of South Carolina, the southern states, the northern states, and the rest of the world.  South Carolina harbored great ambitions. It intended to persuade all four groups that the state had the legal right to secede from the Union and that it was entitled to exercise that right. After all, the federal government had encroached on its rights for many years, and the future looked particularly grim in light of Lincoln's election to the presidency. Of course, its statement to sister states in the South was meant to encourage further secession, and in this bid it  enjoyed some success. Its declaration also represented a justification of its intended direction, and this conveyed  to the North the most solemn disrespect for the Union that anystate might convey.  In addressing the nations of the world, South Carolina sought to increase its standing and assume the legal status of any nation.