When States Seceded During the American Civil War

The American Civil War was made inevitable when, in response to growing Northern resistance to the practice of slavery, several Southern states began to secede from the union. That process was the end game of a political battle that had been undertaken between the North and South shortly after the American Revolution. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was the final straw for many southerners. They felt that his goal was to ignore states rights and remove their ability to own slaves. Before it was all over, eleven states seceded from the Union. Four of these (Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee) did not secede until after the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Four additional states were Border Slave States that did not secede from the Union: Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. In addition, the area that would become West Virginia was formed on Oct. 24, 1861, when the western portion of Virginia chose to break away from the rest of the state instead of seceding. Order of Secession During the American Civil War The following chart shows the order in which the states seceded from the Union.   State Date of Secession South Carolina December 20, 1860 Mississippi January 9, 1861 Florida January 10, 1861 Alabama January 11, 1861 Georgia January 19, 1861 Louisiana January 26, 1861 Texas February 1, 1861 Virginia April 17, 1861 Arkansas May 6, 1861 North Carolina May 20, 1861 Tennessee June 8, 1861 The Civil War had many causes, and Lincolns election on Nov. 6, 1860, made many in the South feel that their cause was never going to be heard. By the early 19th century, the economy in the South had become dependent on one crop, cotton, and the only way that cotton farming was economically viable was through the use of very inexpensive slave labor. In sharp contrast, the Northern economy was focused on industry rather than agriculture. The Northerners disparaged the practice of slavery but purchased slave-supported cotton from the South, and with it produced finished goods for sale. The South viewed this as hypocritical, and the growing economic disparity between the two sections of the country became untenable for the South. Espousing States Rights   As America expanded, one of the key questions that arose as each territory moved towards statehood would be whether slavery was allowed in the new state. Southerners felt that if they did not get enough slave states, then their interests would be significantly hurt in Congress. This led to issues such as Bleeding Kansas where the decision of whether to be free or slave was left up to the citizens through the concept of popular sovereignty. Fighting ensued with individuals from other states streaming in to try and sway the vote.   In addition, many southerners espoused the idea of states rights. They felt that the federal government should not be able to impose its will on the states. In the early 19th century, John C. Calhoun espoused the idea of nullification, an idea strongly supported in the south. Nullification would have allowed states to decide for themselves if federal actions were unconstitutional—could be nullified—according to their own constitutions. However, the Supreme Court decided against the South and said that nullification was not legal and that the national union was perpetual and would have supreme authority over the individual states. The Call of Abolitionists and the Election of Abraham Lincoln With the appearance of the novel  Uncle Toms Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe  and the publication of key abolitionist  newspapers like The Liberator, the call for the abolition of slavery grew stronger in the north. And, with the election of Abraham Lincoln, the South felt that someone who was only interested in Northern interests and anti-slavery would soon be president. South Carolina delivered its  Declaration of the Causes of Secession, and the other states soon followed. The die was set and with the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12–14,1861, open warfare began.   Sources Abrahamson, James L. The Men of Secession and Civil War, 1859-1861. The American Crisis Series: Books on the Civil War Era, #1. Wilmington, Delaware: Rowman Littlefield, 2000. Print.Egnal, Marc. The Economic Origins of the Civil War. OAH Magazine of History 25.2 (2011): 29–33. Print.McClintock, Russell. Lincoln and the Decision for War: The Northern Response to Secession. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008. Print.