South Carolina Declaration of Secession facts for kids
The South Carolina Declaration of Secession was an important document. It was released on December 24, 1860, by the state of South Carolina. This declaration explained why South Carolina was leaving the United States. This act of leaving the Union is called seceding.
The declaration was created by a special meeting in South Carolina. This meeting happened after Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. A group led by Christopher Memminger wrote the declaration. It clearly stated why South Carolina was leaving. They said it was because "non-slaveholding States" (states without slavery) were becoming more and more against "the Institution of Slavery."
The declaration also said: "A geographical line has been drawn across the Union." It claimed that all states north of this line had voted for a president who was against slavery.
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Why South Carolina Left the Union
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After Abraham Lincoln was elected President in November 1860, South Carolina held a special meeting. Lincoln's political party was against slavery spreading into new U.S. territories.
On December 20, 1860, this meeting passed a short law. It was called the Ordinance of Secession. This law officially announced that South Carolina was leaving the Union. The ordinance itself was very brief. It did not explain why the state was leaving.
Here is what the ordinance said:
We, the People of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention, on the twenty-third day of May in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred and eighty eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying amendment of the said Constitution, are here by repealed; and that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of "The United States of America," is hereby dissolved.
The leaders at the meeting had already agreed to write a separate document. This document would explain their reasons. They gave this job to a group of seven members. Christopher G. Memminger is thought to be the main writer. The document they created was called the "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union." The meeting approved it on December 24.
What the Declaration Said
The first part of the declaration explained South Carolina's history. It also gave a legal reason for leaving the Union. It claimed that states had the right to leave the Union. This right, they said, was part of the U.S. Constitution. South Carolina had even confirmed this right in 1852.
The declaration argued that the agreement between South Carolina and the United States was like a contract. It said that if one side did not follow the rules of the contract, the agreement could be canceled.
Why the U.S. Government Failed South Carolina
The next part of the declaration claimed the U.S. government had not kept its promises to South Carolina. They specifically pointed to some states that refused to follow the Fugitive Slave Act. This act required people to return escaped enslaved people. They also felt the federal government was trying to end slavery.
The declaration stated that these problems had existed for 25 years. However, the situation had become "unacceptable" recently. This was because a new President had been elected. (They meant Abraham Lincoln, though they did not say his name). They believed he planned to outlaw slavery.
South Carolina stated its main reason for leaving:
The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution.
It also said:
A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery.
The final part of the declaration announced that South Carolina had left the United States. Therefore, it was no longer under U.S. laws or authority.
Why the Declaration Matters
After the Civil War, some people claimed South Carolina left for other reasons. They mentioned things like tariffs (taxes on imported goods). However, the declaration itself did not mention tariffs or taxes at all.
The main focus of the declaration was slavery. It said Northern states were breaking the Constitution. They were not returning escaped enslaved people. The Constitution, in Article IV, Section 2, required states to do this. South Carolina also believed Northern states were actively trying to end slavery. They saw slavery as protected by the Constitution.
The main argument was that the U.S. Constitution was a contract. If some states (the Northern states) broke the contract, then other states (the Southern states) were no longer bound by it. Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas wrote similar declarations when they left the Union. They followed South Carolina's lead.
The declaration did not just say states had rights. It said South Carolina was a sovereign state. This meant it was independent. It had only given certain powers to the federal government through the Constitution. It also complained that other states were not following their duties under the Constitution. The declaration stressed that the Constitution clearly required states to return "person(s) held in service or labor" to their home state.
Other Documents from South Carolina
The declaration was the second of three important documents. These were officially released by the South Carolina Secession Convention. The first was the Ordinance of Secession itself. The third was "The Address of the people of South Carolina, assembled in Convention, to the people of the Slaveholding States of the United States." This was written by Robert Barnwell Rhett. It asked other states that allowed slavery to leave the Union. It also asked them to join South Carolina in forming a new nation. The convention decided to print 15,000 copies of these three documents. They sent them to many different groups.
Comparing to the U.S. Declaration of Independence
The South Carolina declaration was seen as similar to the United States Declaration of Independence from 1776. However, it left out some very important phrases. It did not say "all men are created equal." It also did not say "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." And it did not include "consent of the governed" (meaning governments get their power from the people they rule).
Historian Harry V. Jaffa wrote about this in his 2000 book. He said this omission was very important:
South Carolina cites, loosely, but with substantial accuracy, some of the language of the original Declaration. That Declaration does say that it is the right of the people to abolish any form of government that becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established. But South Carolina does not repeat the preceding language in the earlier document: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal'…
Jaffa explained why South Carolina left out these ideas. He said that the people in South Carolina who supported secession did not believe in human equality. They also did not believe in the idea of "consent of the governed." This was because of their racist views and their support for slavery.
Jaffa added:
[G]overnments are legitimate only insofar as their "just powers" are derived "from the consent of the governed." All of the foregoing is omitted from South Carolina's declaration, for obvious reasons. In no sense could it have been said that the slaves in South Carolina were governed by powers derived from their consent. Nor could it be said that South Carolina was separating itself from the government of the Union because that government had become destructive of the ends for which it was established. South Carolina in 1860 had an entirely different idea of what the ends of government ought to be from that of 1776 or 1787. That difference can be summed up in the difference between holding slavery to be an evil, if possibly a necessary evil, and holding it to be a positive good.
