secession

Examples of secession in the following topics:

• Buchanan's Waiting Game

  • After the 1860 election, President Buchanan did little to prevent secession or prepare the United States for the possibility of war.
  • In the aftermath of the 1860 election, seven Deep South states passed secession ordinances by February 1861 (before Abraham Lincoln took office as president).
  • Furthermore, in his final address to Congress, Buchanan denied the legal right of states to secede, but paradoxically held that the federal government legally could not prevent secession with force.
  • Essentially, Buchanan argued that, although secession was not legal, the North had pushed the South to the brink of justifiable revolution by encroaching on Southern rights.
  • South Carolina declared its secession on December 20, 1860, followed by six other slave states; by February 1861, they had formed the Confederate States of America and declared eminent domain over federal property within their states.

• Secession of the South

  • Seven Deep South states passed secession ordinances by February 1861 in the aftermath of the 1860 presidential election.
  • Seven Deep South states passed secession ordinances by February 1861 prior to Abraham Lincoln acceding to office.
  • In the aftermath of the 1860 presidential election, sitting President Buchanan did little to halt the wave of Southern secession.
  • Davis became the provisional president of the Confederate States of America following secession.
  • Examine the South's arguments for secession and the reaction to secession in the North

• Photography

  • The Photo-Secession movement placed the focus on the role of the photographer as an artist.
  • Centered in Gallery 291 in New York City from 1902-1916, membership to the Photo-Secession movement was by invitation-only and varied according to Stieglitz's interests.
  • Edward Weston (1886 - 1958) would become a leader in the Precisionist Movement, a style that functioned in direct opposition to the Photo-Secession Movement.
  • Steichen broke with Steiglitz toward the end of the Photo-Secession movement and created the first commercial image in 1919, entitled Pear and Apple.
  • Contrast the Precisionist Movement with the earlier Photo-Secession movement, analyzing their motivations

• Final Efforts at Compromise

  • While Southern states held elections to consider secession and Buchanan waited out the last months of his presidency, Congress made efforts to reach a compromise over the sectional tensions that exploded with the 1860 election.
  • With the seven states of the Deep South already committed to secession, the emphasis for peacefully preserving the Union focused on the eight slaveholding states in the Upper South.
  • Crittenden submitted six proposed constitutional amendments that he hoped would address all the outstanding issues pushing the South towards secession.
  • Explain how the Thirty-Sixth Congress attempted to solve the secession crisis

• Government During the War

  • Following the secession of the Southern states, the absence of Southern Democrats in Congress allowed the Republican Congress in Washington to enact legislation that reshaped the nation's financial, tax, land, and higher-education systems.
  • Prior to secession, the South had resisted policies that would hurt the plantation economy, including tariffs to promote industry and land grants for family farms.
  • Compare and contrast the Confederate governance and constitution with that of the United States, and discuss bills passed in Congress after the secession of the South

• Photography in America

  • Photographer Alfred Steiglitz (1864–1946) led the Photo-Secession movement, a movement that promoted photography as a fine art and sought to raise standards and awareness of art photography.
  • The Photo-Secession movement placed the focus on the role of the photographer as an artist.
  • Centered in Gallery 291 in New York City from 1902-1916, membership to the Photo-Secession movement was by invitation-only and varied according to Stieglitz's interests.
  • Edward Weston (1886 - 1958) would become a leader in the Precisionist Movement, a style that functioned in direct opposition to the Photo-Secession Movement.
  • Steichen broke with Stieglitz toward the end of the Photo-Secession movement and created the first commercial image in 1919, entitled Pear and Apple. 

• The Sectional Crisis Deepens

  • Northern Democrats hoped for a long-term compromise between slave and free states in new territories, while Southern Democrats demanded federal protections of slavery and threatened secession if Congress refused to meet their demands.
  • By the election of 1860, these political camps were firmly aligned with Northern and Southern interests, with Southern states whipping up public support for state conventions to vote on secession if Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans won the presidency.

• Lincoln and Republican Victory in 1860

  • Within a few months of the election, seven Southern states, led by South Carolina, responded with declarations of secession.
  • Both John Bell of Tennessee (the Constitutional Union Party candidate) and Douglas had campaigned on a platform stating that they could save the Union from secession, warning Americans that a vote for Lincoln was a vote for disunion.
  • In 10 of the 11 states that would later declare secession, Lincoln's ticket did not even appear on the ballot; in Virginia, he received only 1 percent of the popular vote.

• The Second American Revolution

  • Amendments to the Constitution, allowed by the Article V Convention of 1787, were envisioned as a means to periodically adapt the constitution to changing times and maintain a "living constitution. " Southern Democrats argued that secession was justified by the Constitution.

• Confederate Politics

  • States' rights, one of the primary platforms for secession, was an enduring issue in Confederate politics that caused tension between state leaders and President Jefferson Davis.