South Carolina Declaration of Secession - Analysis | Milestone Documents - Milestone Documents

South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession

( 1860 ) Commentary by David Gray Adler, Alturas Institute
  • “The frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union.” - Paragraph 1
  • “A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery.” - Paragraph 22
  • “We, therefore, the People of South Carolina, by our delegates in Convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved.” - Paragraph 27
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Engraving from 1860 showing a mass meeting organized to support the call for secession (Library of Congress)

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