Texas Secession Essential Questions:

Define characteristics of the Civil War & Reconstruction Era.

Explain the significance of 1861.

Explain reasons for the involvement of Texas in the Civil War such as states’ rights, slavery, sectionalism, tariffs, and secession.

Main Idea: Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. In 1861, Southern states, including Texas, formed the Confederate States of America.

Many Issues Divide the Country

Tariffs – taxes on trade

1828 “Tariff of Abominations” (a high tax)

South hated it Forced to sell cotton @ low

prices to be competitive Pay high prices for North

manufactured goods

“Nullification Crisis” Results South Carolina believed

that states had the right to nullify a federal law it considered unconstitutional.

South Carolina threatened to secede but a compromise ended the threat. This issue continued to brew until 1861.

Many Issues Divide the Country

Sectionalism – loyalty to the interests of one's own region or section of the country, rather than the nation as a whole

Many Texans came from southern states and grew the chief cash crop, which was cotton.

Texas resembled the economy, social structure, customs, and political values of the South which concentrated on plantation agriculture, slave labor, and the Democratic Party.

Many Issues Divide the Country

States Rights – Texans believed that states should be able to make their own political, economic, and social decisions.

Slavery – Texans believed that slavery was vital to the economy; opposed Republican Party b/c most members did NOT want to see slavery spread to new territories

Southern Society in 1850s

Upper Class – Slave Elite

Middle class – Few Slaves

Lower Middle Class – 1 or 2 Slaves

Lower Class – No Slaves

Slaves

Southern States Vow to Secede

During the 1860 presidential campaign, Southerners warned that they would secede if the Republicans won.

Lincoln was Republican candidate that won the election

Secession: Southerners argued that sovereignty rested with the states, saying the states entered the Union voluntarily and could likewise leave.

The Convention Votes on Secession

Governor Sam Houston opposed secession by declaring that Texas could be better protect its interest by staying in the Union.

“South can’t win the war”

Texans favoring secession called a convention. The Texas Secession Convention met in Austin in January 1861.

They adopted the Ordinance of Secession, which declared that the U.S. abused its power to “strike down the interest and prosperity of the people of Texas.”

Sam Houston Quote #1

“Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives you may win Southern independence, but I doubt it. The North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to love in a given direction, the move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche.”

The Convention Votes on Secession

On February 23, 1861 the people of Texas approved secession by a wide margin.

Texas became the seventh state of eleven to secede from the U.S. and form a new country in the South.

The Confederacy is Formed

The 7 seceded states met at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, and formed a new nation called the Confederate States of America (C.S.A.) and drew up a constitution.

The states were given more power, the federal government less, and the constitution guaranteed the protection of slavery.

The document replaced references to the U.S. with references to the Confederacy.

First Confederacy Flag

Houston is Removed

When the Texas Secession Convention ordered all states officials to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, Houston refused and was removed as governor.

President Lincoln offered Houston the use of federal troops if he would oppose the convention that voted for secession, but, unwilling to cause a civil war in Texas, Houston refused.

Governor Sam Houston

Sam Houston Quote #2

“Would you be willing to deluge [flood] the capital of Texas with the blood of Texans, merely to keep one poor old man in a position for a few days longer, in a position that belongs to the people? No! . . . Go tell my deluded friends that I am proud of their friendship, of their love and loyalty, . . . [but] to go to their homes and to conceal from the world that they would have been guilty of such an act.”

The War Begins

President Lincoln believed the C.S.A. had no right to leave the Union. He vowed to preserve the nation and carry out the law of the land in all states.

A “perpetual” Union

On April 12, 1861, Confederate troops opened fire on U.S. troops at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, starting the Civil War.Battle of Fort Sumter