The Fort Sumter Fallout

"No man, no association of men, no state or set of states has a right to withdraw itself from this Union, of its own accord.  The same power which knit us together, can only unknit.  The same formality, which forged the links of the Union, is necessary to dissolve it.  The majority of States which form the Union must consent to the withdrawal of any one branch of it.  Until that consent has been obtained, any attempt to dissolve the Union, or obstruct the efficacy of its constitutional laws, is Treason--Treason to all intents and purposes. . . . This illustrious Union, which has been cemented by the blood of our forefathers, the pride of America and the wonder of the world must not be tamely sacrificed to the heated brains or the aspiring hearts of a few malcontents. The Union must be saved, when any one shall dare to assail it."  Richmond Enquirer,  November, 1 1814

The already seceded southern states sent "commissioners" to the rest of the slave states urging them to secede from the Union.  At the Virginian secession convention in February 1861, Georgian Henry Lewis Benning, who would later go on to join the Confederate army as an officer, delivered a speech in which gave his reasoning for the urging of secession from the Union, appealing to ethnic prejudices and pro-slavery sentiments to present his case:

"What was the reason that induced Georgia to take the step of secession?  This reason may be summed up in one single proposition.  It was a conviction, a deep conviction on the part of Georgia, that a separation from the North-was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of her slavery. ... If things are allowed to go on as they are, it is certain that slavery is to be abolished.  By the time the north shall have attained the power, the black race will be in a large majority, and then we will have black governors, black legislatures, black juries, black everything.   Is it to be supposed that the white race will stand for that?  It is not a supposable case ... war will break out everywhere like hidden fire from the earth, and it is probable that the white race.... will be overpowered and our men will be compelled to wander like vagabonds all over the earth; and as for our women, the horrors of their state we cannot contemplate in imagination.  That is the fate which abolition will bring upon the white race. ... We will be completely exterminated, and the land will be left in the possession of the blacks, and then it will go back to a wilderness and become another Africa... Suppose they elevated Charles Sumner to the presidency?  Suppose they elevated Fred Douglass, your escaped slave, to the presidency?  What would be your position in such an event?  I say give me pestilence and famine sooner than that."

— Henry Lewis Benning, speech to the Virginia Convention, February 18, 1861.


"Better, far better! Endure all the horrors of civil war than to see the dusky sons of Ham leading the fair daughters of the South to the altar." 
— Virginian William M. Thompson, letter to Warner A. Thompson, (February 2, 1861) 

Virginia Secession Convention begins	February 1, 1861
Lincoln Inaugurated	March 4, 1861
VA votes not to secede, 88-45	April 4, 1861
Confederates seize Fort Sumter	April 12, 1861
Lincoln Calls for 75,000 troops	April 15, 1861
The Va Governor refuses to send troops

Virginia secedes	April 17, 1861 - Note 1
(Union captures Alexandria, Va.)	May 24, 1861
Arkansas secedes	May 6, 1861
North Carolina secedes	May 20, 1861
Tennessee secedes	May 6, 1861 - Note 2

First Battle of Manassas

July 21, 1861

Note 1. Virginia's ordinance of secession was ratified in a referendum held on May 23, 1861, by a vote of 132,201 to 37,451.

Note 2. Tennessee's ordinance of secession was ratified on June 8, 1861 by a vote of 104,471 to 47,183.

Primary Sources - All of the ordinances of secession


Article - Virginia Secession