South Carolina Ordinance of Secession

South Carolina Ordinance of Secession
Title	South Carolina Ordinance of Secession
Date	December 20, 1860
Place	Charleston, South Carolina
Result	Declaration of withdrawal from the United States; catalyst for formation of the Confederate States of America

South Carolina Ordinance of Secession The South Carolina Ordinance of Secession was the formal proclamation by the State of South Carolina withdrawing from the United States on December 20, 1860, issued by the South Carolina General Assembly and proclaimed in Charleston, South Carolina. The ordinance followed resolutions and conventions influenced by figures such as John C. Calhoun, James H. Hammond, Jefferson Davis, and Robert Barnwell Rhett and precipitated actions by state militias, federal officers, and the United States Navy that led to the American Civil War and the creation of the Confederate States of America.

Background

In the decade preceding 1860 sectional crises such as the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas–Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision reshaped politics across the Whig Party, the Democratic Party (United States), and the emerging Republican Party (United States), affecting leaders including Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln. South Carolina's planter elite, including John C. Calhoun and James Henry Hammond, advanced a doctrine of states' rights and nullification seen earlier in the Nullification Crisis of 1832, while agitators such as Robert Barnwell Rhett and publications like the Charleston Mercury argued for immediate secession after Lincoln's election in November 1860. Tensions over the institution of slavery in the United States, disputes about territorial expansion after events such as the Mexican–American War and debates surrounding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 fueled South Carolina's maneuvering within the United States Congress, where figures like John C. Breckinridge and William H. Seward debated constitutional remedies.

Drafting and Adoption

Following Lincoln's victory in the 1860 United States presidential election, South Carolina's state legislature called a Secession convention that convened delegates from across districts represented by men such as Alexander H. Stephens, Francis W. Pickens, John McQueen, and William Porcher Miles. The convention met in Columbia, South Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina where committee reports, forensic debates, and draft resolutions referenced precedents from the Articles of Confederation era and legal thought of James Madison and John C. Calhoun. On December 20, 1860 the convention adopted the ordinance drafted by a committee with phrasing invoking the Declaration of Independence, property rights theorized by John Locke, and arguments echoed in pamphlets distributed by the Southern Rights Association and the Fire-Eaters. The adoption was followed by proclamations from Governor Francis Wilkinson Pickens and publication in newspapers including the Charleston Courier and the Charleston Mercury.

Text and Legal Arguments

The ordinance's text announced that South Carolina had "dissolved the union" with the United States Constitution on constitutional grounds, citing alleged violations of compact theory and the failure of northern states to enforce laws such as the Fugitive Slave Act; it invoked rhetorical and legal references to the Declaration of Independence and to notions advanced by John C. Calhoun and Alexander H. Stephens. Advocates argued using legal instruments and cases like Prigg v. Pennsylvania and concepts debated in the U.S. Supreme Court to contend that the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives had failed to protect South Carolina's rights, aligning with theories articulated in publications by Edmund Ruffin and resolutions in the Southern Rights Association. Opponents within and beyond South Carolina—including moderates who pointed to the Constitution of the Confederate States of America discussions and Unionist voices in the Unionist Party (United States)—contended with competing interpretations advanced by jurists such as Salmon P. Chase and commentators in northern papers like the New York Tribune.

Immediate Reactions and Enforcement

The ordinance immediately produced mobilization: Governor Francis Wilkinson Pickens moved state militia toward federal installations including Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, while the United States Navy and federal officials such as President James Buchanan and later Abraham Lincoln faced decisions about relief and reinforcement. Federal property seizures, blockade discussions by commanders such as Robert Anderson (Civil War) at Fort Sumter (1861), and the transfer of United States Army installations prompted responses from neighboring states like Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, which soon held their own conventions. International responses included commentary from British and French diplomats in London and Paris and discussions in the British Parliament and French press about recognition and commerce with the nascent Confederate States of America.

Role in the Secession Movement and Confederacy

South Carolina's ordinance served as the catalyst and model for other states: delegates from seceding states convened in Montgomery, Alabama, with leaders such as Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens to draft and ratify the Constitution of the Confederate States of America. The ordinance influenced military and political strategy during campaigns like the Bombardment of Fort Sumter and engagements involving commanders such as P.G.T. Beauregard and Robert E. Lee; it shaped Confederate diplomacy pursued by figures like James M. Mason and John Slidell during the Civil War. The document also affected northern mobilization, congressional acts such as the Confiscation Acts, and wartime jurisprudence adjudicated by courts including the Supreme Court of the United States under Chief Justice Roger B. Taney.

Legacy and Historical Interpretation

Historians and legal scholars—ranging from William W. Freehling and James M. McPherson to Eric Foner and Drew Gilpin Faust—debate the ordinance's motives, citing economic data about plantation systems, cotton trade ties to Great Britain, and ideological sources including the Lost Cause of the Confederacy and postwar reconciliation narratives shaped by figures like Ulysses S. Grant. Interpretations have emphasized constitutional theory, slavery's centrality as explored by Kenneth M. Stampp and Ira Berlin, and the ordinance's symbolic role in memory and commemoration practices at sites such as the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon and museums in Charleston, South Carolina. The ordinance remains a focal document in studies of secession, constitutional law scholarship, and public history debates over monuments, heritage tourism, and curriculum in institutions like the University of South Carolina and the National Archives.

Category:Secessionist documents Category:1860s in South Carolina Category:American Civil War documents