The Secession of South Carolina

     Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 brought along fears and concerns across the South.  Many white Southerners believed that the newly elected President and his Republican supporters would enact a series of measures that would end slavery.  In their eyes any attack on slavery was an attack on the Southern way of life as well as state's rights.
     From the Southern perspective the 1850s had been a decade of Northern aggression.  Northern ministers and newspapers had attacked slavery through literature and propaganda.  The Fugitive Slave Act was passed yet the Underground Railroad was being supported by many people living in the North.  John Brown had murdered innocent Southern citizens yet was claimed a hero in many Northern towns and cities.  Lincoln's election was the final straw, the North was out to punish the South and destroy their way of life.  Many in the South debated on what the next move should be.
    On November 10, 1860, U.S. Senator James Chestnut from South Carolina submitted a letter of resignation to the Vice President.  Chestnut believed that he would not be able to work with the Republican President and felt that he was needed back home.  Chestnut would be the first of 17 U.S. Senators to withdraw from their post during the Civil War.
     Back in South Carolina the State Legislature quickly proposed an Ordinance of Secession that would nullify South Carolina's union with the other states.   On December 20th, the ordinance was passed 169-0 and South Carolina had declared it's relationship with the United States to be over.  In the eyes of many South Carolinians the Union had effectively been dissolved.
    South Carolina's decision sent a shockwave across the country and many wondered how the federal government would respond.  President Buchanan denounced the decision to secede and declared that it was illegal but did not use his authority to bring South Carolina back into the Union.  More Southern states soon followed and by February of 186; Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas had all seceded from the Union.