Texas Secession

1
Texas Secession

• Essential Question
• Why did Texas secede?

2
Many Issues Divide the Country

• 1. Tariffs
• 1828 Tariff of Abominations (a high tax)
• South hated it
• Forced to sell cotton _at_ 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.

3
Many Issues Divide the Country

• 2. Sectionalism loyalty to the interests of
  one's own region or section of the country,
  rather than the nation as a whole
• What would the interests of the region be for the
  South?

4
Many Issues Divide the Country

• 3. States Rights Texans believed that states
  should be able to make their own political,
  economic, and social decisions.
• 4. 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

5
Southern Society in 1850s
Upper Class Slave Elite
Middle class Few Slaves
Lower Middle Class 1 or 2 Slaves
Lower Class No Slaves
Slaves
6
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
• 5. Secession Southerners argued that sovereignty
  rested with the states, saying the states entered
  the Union voluntarily and could likewise leave.

7
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 cant 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.

8
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.

9
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
10
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
11
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