Secession crisis of 1860–61

Secession crisis of 1860–61
Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives · Public domain · source
Name	Secession crisis of 1860–61
Date	1860–1861
Location	United States
Result	Secession of Southern states and formation of the Confederate States of America leading to the American Civil War

Secession crisis of 1860–61 The secession crisis of 1860–61 was the constitutional, political, and diplomatic rupture following the United States presidential election of 1860 that precipitated the formation of the Confederate States of America and the outbreak of the American Civil War. Prelude debates over slavery, territorial expansion, and sectional balance engaged leaders from the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Whig Party remnants, and the Know Nothing movement, while state legislatures, conventions, and federal officials grappled with claims of sovereignty and coercion.

Background and Causes

Southern and Northern tensions grew after decisions and events including the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas–Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott v. Sandford ruling. Influential figures such as John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Stephen A. Douglas debated sectional compromises in the United States Congress. Migration into territories like Kansas Territory sparked the Bleeding Kansas conflict involving actors such as John Brown and Charles Sumner, while economic disputes involved leaders like James Buchanan and financiers in New York City and Charleston, South Carolina. Intellectual and cultural pressure came from publications and orators including William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Edmund Ruffin, and from political radicals like William H. Seward, Alexander H. Stephens, and Jefferson Davis.

Presidential Election of 1860 and Immediate Reactions

The Republican Convention nominated Abraham Lincoln, while the Democratic Convention split, producing nominees Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge, and John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party. The contested returns from states in the Deep South provoked immediate protests in capitals such as Montgomery, Alabama, Richmond, Virginia, Columbia, South Carolina, and Jackson, Mississippi. Prominent Southern governors including Francis Wilkinson Pickens, John J. Pettus, and Beriah Magoffin convened legislatures and signaled support for state conventions, while Northern leaders like William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Horace Greeley responded in newspapers and legislative caucuses.

Secession Conventions and Declarations

Starting with South Carolina's special convention in December 1860, secession conventions met in statehouses across the South, including in Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and later in Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Delegates such as R. Barnwell Rhett, George Fitzhugh, William Lowndes Yancey, and Alexander H. Stephens debated constitutions and issued Declarations of Causes of Seceding States modeled in part on the Declaration of Independence. Legalists invoked doctrines articulated by jurists like Judge John Archibald Campbell and political theorists such as George Bancroft. Opposition voices included Unionist politicians like Sam Houston, William "Parson" Brownlow, Andrew Johnson, and James S. Green who urged preservation of the Union in public forums and legislative chambers.

Formation of the Confederate States and Political Responses

Delegates from seceding states met in Montgomery, Alabama and formed the Confederate provisional government, electing Jefferson Davis as provisional president and choosing Alexander H. Stephens as vice president. The Confederate provisional congress drafted the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States and later the permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America, drawing on models from the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. Northern and border state elites—such as governors Edward Bates, John A. Andrew, William Dennison Jr., and senators Henry Wilson and Charles Sumner—debated federal response options in bodies like the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. Diplomats including James Buchanan's envoy network, ministers to Great Britain such as Charles Francis Adams Sr., and foreign observers in Paris, London, and Berlin weighed recognition and neutrality.

Federal Government Actions and Diplomatic Efforts

President James Buchanan and his cabinet faced legal and practical dilemmas over forts, customhouses, and federal property in seceding states, most notably Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, Forts Pulaski and Pickens, and the Navy Yard at Gosport (Norfolk Navy Yard). Federal officers including Robert Anderson repositioned forces while officials such as Edwin M. Stanton and Simon Cameron argued policy options. Congressional debates over Crittenden Compromise proposals, championed by John J. Crittenden and supported by figures like Robert Toombs and James A. Bayard Jr., sought constitutional amendments and territorial guarantees. International diplomacy involved British ministers like Lord John Russell, French observers such as Napoleon III's envoys, and concerns over commerce routed through New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama.

Military Confrontations and the Road to War

Tensions escalated to armed confrontations at bastions like Fort Sumter, where the April 1861 bombardment by Confederate forces under commanders such as Pierre G. T. Beauregard followed the evacuation of Union garrisons led by Robert Anderson. Mobilization by President Abraham Lincoln in response to calls for troops from governors like Francis P. Blair Jr. and Elihu B. Washburne led to additional secessions and the rallying of state militias commanded by figures such as Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, P.G.T. Beauregard, Leonidas Polk, and Joseph E. Johnston. Border state crises in Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri involved partisan leaders including John C. Breckinridge, Nathaniel P. Banks, Sterling Price, and John Bell Hood. The collapse of compromise initiatives and the capture or abandonment of federal installations accelerated the transition from political rupture to the full-scale American Civil War battles at First Battle of Bull Run, Shiloh, and the prolonged campaigns that would follow.

Category:1860s in the United States