"The Secession Acts of the 13 Confederate States."
[Mississippi]
[Florida]
[Alabama]
[Georgia]
[Louisiana]
[Texas]
[Virginia]
[Arkansas]
[North Carolina]
[Tennessee]
[Missouri]
[Kentucky]
[South Carolina]
AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of South
Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled
"The Constitution of the United States of America."
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
amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the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.
Done at Charleston the twentieth day of December, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty.
[Mississippi]
AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of Mississippi
and other States united with her unter the compact entitled "The
Constitution of the United States of America."
The people of the State of Mississippi, in convention assembled, do ordain
and declare, and it is hereby ordained and declared, as follows, to wit:
Section 1. That all the laws and ordinances by which the said State of
Mississippi became a member of the Federal Union of the United States of
America be, and the same are hereby, repealed, and that all obligations
on the part of the said State or the people thereof to observe the same
be withdrawn, and that the said State doth hereby resume all the rights,
functions, and powers which by any of said laws or ordinances were
conveyed to the Government of the said United States, and is absolved
from all the obligations, restraints, and duties incurred to the said
Federal Union, and shall from henceforth be a free, sovereign, and
independent State.
Sec. 2. That so much of the first section of the seventh article of
the constitution of this State as requires members of the Legislature
and all officers, executive and judicial, to take an oath or affirmation
to support the Constitution of the United States be, and the same is
hereby, abrogated and annulled.
Sec. 3. That all rights acquired and vested under the Constitution of
the United States, or under any act of Congress passed, or treaty made,
in pursuance thereof, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible
with this ordinance, shall remain in force and have the same effect as if
this ordinance had not been passed.
Sec. 4. That the people of the State of Mississippi hereby consent to
form a federal union with such of the States as may have seceded or may
secede from the Union of the United States of America, upon the basis of
the present Constitution of the said United States, except such parts
thereof as embrace other portions than such seceding States.
Thus ordained and declared in convention the 9th day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1861.
[Florida]
ORDINANCE OF SECESSION
We, the people of the State of Florida, in convention assembled, do
solemnly ordain, publish, and declare, That the State of Florida hereby
withdraws herself from the confederacy of States existing under the
name of the United States of America and from the existing Government
of the said States; and that all political connection between her and
the Government of said States ought to be, and the same is hereby, totally
annulled, and said Union of States dissolved; and the State of Florida is
hereby declared a sovereign and independent nation; and that all ordinances
heretofore adopted, in so far as they create or recognize said Union,
are rescinded; and all laws or parts of laws in force in this State, in
so far as they recognize or assent to said Union, be, and they are
hereby, repealed.
[Passed 10 Jan 1861]
[Alabama]
An Ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of Alabama and
the other States united under the compact styled "The Constitution
of the United States of America"
Whereas, the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the
offices of president and vice-president of the United States of America,
by a sectional party, avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions
and to the peace and security of the people of the State of Alabama,
preceded by many and dangerous infractions of the constitution of the
United States by many of the States and people of the Northern section,
is a political wrong of so insulting and manacing a character as to
justify the people of the State of Alabama in the adoption of prompt
and decided measures for their future peace and security, therefore:
Be it declared and ordained by the people of the State of Alabama, in
Convention assembled, That the State of Alabama now withdraws, and is
hereby withdrawn from the Union known as "the United States of America,"
and henceforth ceases to be one of said United States, and is, and of
right ought to be a Sovereign and Independent State.
Sec 2. Be it further declared and ordained by the people of the State
of Alabama in Convention assembled, That all powers over the Territory
of said State, and over the people thereof, heretofore delegated to
the Government of the United States of America, be and they are hereby
withdrawn from said Government, and are hereby resumed and vested in the
people of the State of Alabama.
And as it is the desire and purpose of the people of Alabama to meet the
slaveholding States of the South, who may approve such purpose, in order
to frame a provisional as well as permanent Government upon the principles
of the Constitution of the United States,
Be it resolved by the people of Alabama in Convention assembled, That
the people of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas,
Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, be and are hereby invited to meet the
people of the State of Alabama, by their Delegates, in Convention, on the
4th day of February, A.D., 1861, at the city of Montgomery, in the State
of Alabama, for the purpose of consulting with each other as to the most
effectual mode of securing concerted and harmonious action in whatever
measures may be deemed most desirable for our common peace and security.
And be it further resolved, That the President of this Convention, be
and is hereby instructed to transmit forthwith a copy of the foregoing
Preamble, Ordinance, and Resolutions to the Governors of the several
States named in said resolutions.
Done by the people of the State of Alabama, in Convention assembled, at
Montgomery, on this, the eleventh day of January, A.D. 1861.
[Georgia]
We the people of the State of Georgia in Convention assembled do declare
and ordain and it is hereby declared and ordained that the ordinance
adopted by the State of Georgia in convention on the 2nd day of Jany.
in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and eighty-eight, whereby
the constitution of the United States of America was assented to,
ratified and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the
general assembly of this State, ratifying and adopting amendments to
said constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.
We do further declare and ordain that the union now existing between
the State of Georgia and other States under the name of the United
States of America is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Georgia
is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty
which belong and appertain to a free and independent State.
Passed January 19, 1861.
[Louisiana]
AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of Louisiana
and other States united with her under the compact entitled "The
Constitution of the United States of America."
We, the people of the State of Louisiana, in convention assembled, do
declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the
ordinance passed by us in convention on the 22d day of November, in the
year eighteen hundred and eleven, whereby the Constitution of the United
States of America and the amendments of the said Constitution were adopted,
and all laws and ordinances by which the State of Louisiana became a
member of the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, repealed and
abrogated; and that the union now subsisting between Louisiana and
other States under the name of "The United States of America" is hereby
dissolved.
We do further declare and ordain, That the State of Louisiana hereby
resumes all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the Government of
the United States of America; that her citizens are absolved from all
allegiance to said Government; and that she is in full possession and
exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which appertain to a free
and independent State.
We do further declare and ordain, That all rights acquired and vested
under the Constitution of the United States, or any act of Congress, or
treaty, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this
ordinance, shall remain in force and have the same effect as if this
ordinance had not been passed.
Adopted in convention at Baton Rouge this 26th day of January, 1861.
[Texas]
AN ORDINANCE
To dissolve the Union between the State of Texas and the other States
united under the Compact styled "the Constitution of the United States
of America."
WHEREAS, The Federal Government has failed to accomplish the
purposes of the compact of union between these States, in giving
protection either to the persons of our people upon an exposed
frontier, or to the property of our citizens, and
WHEREAS, the action of the Northern States of the Union is violative of
the compact between the States and the guarantees of the Constitution;
and,
WHEREAS, The recent developments in Federal affairs make it evident
that the power of the Federal Government is sought to be made a
weapon with which to strike down the interests and property of the
people of Texas, and her sister slave-holding States, instead of
permitting it to be, as was intended, our shield against outrage
and aggression; THEREFORE,
SECTION 1.-- We, the people of the State of Texas, by delegates in
convention assembled, do declare and ordain that the ordinance adopted
by our convention of delegates on the 4th day of July, A.D. 1845,
and afterwards ratified by us, under which the Republic of Texas
was admitted into the Union with other States, and became a party to
the compact styled "The Constitution of the United States of America,"
be, and is hereby, repealed and annulled; that all the powers which, by
the said compact, were delegated by Texas to the Federal Government are
revoked and resumed; that Texas is of right absolved from all restraints
and obligations incurred by said compact, and is a separate sovereign
State, and that her citizens and people are absolved from all allegiance
to the United States or the government thereof.
SEC. 2. This ordinance shall be submitted to the people of Texas
for their ratification or rejection, by the qualified voters, on the
23rd day of February, 1861, and unless rejected by a majority of the
votes cast, shall take effect and be in force on and after the 2d day
of March, A.D. 1861. PROVIDED, that in the Representative District of
El Paso said election may be held on the 18th day of February, 1861.
Done by the people of the State of Texas, in convention assembled,
at Austin, this 1st day of February, A.D. 1861.
[ratified 23 Feb 1861 by a vote of 46,153 for and 14,747 against]
[Virginia]
AN ORDINANCE to repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the
United State of America by the State of Virginia, and to resume all
the rights and powers granted under said Constitution.
The people of Virginia in their ratification of the Constitution of the
United States of America, adopted by them in convention on the
twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and eighty-eight, having declared that the powers granted under
said Constitition were derived from the people of the United States and
might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their
injury and oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said
powers not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the
oppression of the Southern slave-holding States:
Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do declare and ordain, That
the ordinance adopted by the people of this State in convention on the
twenty-fifth day of June, 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 all acts of the General Assembly of this
State ratifying and adopting amendments to said Constitution, are hereby
repealed and abrogated; that the union between the State of Virginia and
the other States under the Constitution aforesaid is hereby dissolved, and
that the State of Virginia is in the full possession and exercise of all
the rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and
independent State.
And they do further declare, That said Constitution of the United States
of America is no longer binding on any of the citizens of this State.
This ordinance shall take effect and be an act of this day, when ratified
by a majority of the voter of the people of this State cast at a poll to
be taken thereon on the fourth Thursday in May next, in pursuance of a
schedule hereafter to be enacted.
Adopted by the convention of Virginia April 17,1861
[ratified by a vote of 132,201 to 37,451 on 23 May 1861]
[Arkansas]
AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union now existing between the State of
Arkansas and the other States united with her under the compact
entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America."
Whereas, in addition to the well-founded causes of complaint set
forth by this convention, in resolutions adopted on the 11th of March,
A.D. 1861, against the sectional party now in power in Washington City,
headed by Abraham Lincoln, he has, in the face of resolutions passed
by this convention pledging the State of Arkansas to resist to the last
extremity any attempt on the part of such power to coerce any State
that had seceded from the old Union, proclaimed to the world that war
should be waged against such States until they should be compelled to
submit to their rule, and large forces to accomplish this have by this
same power been called out, and are now being marshaled to carry out
this inhuman design; and to longer submit to such rule, or remain in
the old Union of the United States, would be disgraceful and ruinous to
the State of Arkansas:
Therefore we, the people of the State of Arkansas, in convention assembled,
do hereby declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That
the "ordinance and acceptance of compact" passed and approved by the
General Assembly of the State of Arkansas on the 18th day of October, A.D.
1836, whereby it was by said General Assembly ordained that by virtue of
the authority vested in said General Assembly by the provisions of the
ordinance adopted by the convention of delegates assembled at Little Rock
for the purpose of forming a constitution and system of government for
said State, the propositions set forth in "An act supplementary to an
act entitled `An act for the admission of the State of Arkansas into the
Union, and to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United
States within the same, and for other purposes,'" were freely accepted,
ratified, and irrevocably confirmed, articles of compact and union
between the State of Arkansas and the United States, and all other laws
and every other law and ordinance, whereby the State of Arkansas became
a member of the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, in all respects
and for every purpose herewith consistent, repealed, abrogated, and fully
set aside; and the union now subsisting between the State of Arkansas
and the other States, under the name of the United States of America, is
hereby forever dissolved.
And we do further hereby declare and ordain, That the State of Arkansas
hereby resumes to herself all rights and powers heretofore delegated to
the Government of the United States of America; that her citizens are
absolved from all allegiance to said Government of the United States,
and that she is in full possession and exercise of all the rights and
sovereignty which appertain to a free and independent State.
We do further ordain and declare, That all rights acquired and vested
under the Constitution of the United States of America, or of any act
or acts of Congress, or treaty, or under any law of this State, and not
incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in full force and effect,
in nowise altered or impaired, and have the same effect as if this
ordinance had not been passed.
Adopted and passed in open convention on the 6th day of May, A.D. 1861.
[North Carolina]
AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of North
Carolina and the other States united with her, under the compact
of government entitled "The Constitution of the United States."
We, the people of the State of North Carolina in convention assembled,
do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That
the ordinance adopted by the State of North Carolina in the convention
of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified and
adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly
ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby
repealed, rescinded, and abrogated.
We do further declare and ordain, That the union now subsisting between
the State of North Carolina and the other States, under the title of
the United States of America, is hereby dissolved, and that the State
of North Carolina is in full possession and exercise of all those rights
of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State.
Done in convention at the city of Raleigh, this the 20th day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1861, and in the eighty-fifth year of the independence
of said State.
[Tennessee]
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND ORDINANCE dissolving the federal
relations between the State of Tennessee and the United States of
America.
First. We, the people of the State of Tennessee, waiving any expression
of opinion as to the abstract doctrine of secession, but asserting the
right, as a free and independent people, to alter, reform, or abolish our
form of government in such manner as we think proper, do ordain and
declare that all the laws and ordinances by which the State of Tennessee
became a member of the Federal Union of the United States of America are
hereby abrogated and annulled, and that all the rights, functions, and
powers which by any of said laws and ordinances were conveyed to the
Government of the United States, and to absolve ourselves from all the
obligations, restraints, and duties incurred thereto; and do hereby
henceforth become a free, sovereign, and independent State.
Second. We furthermore declare and ordain that article 10, sections 1
and 2, of the constitution of the State of Tennessee, which requires
members of the General Assembly and all officers, civil and military, to
take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States be, and the
same are hereby, abrogated and annulled, and all parts of the constitution
of the State of Tennessee making citizenship of the United States a
qualification for office and recognizing the Constitution of the United
States as the supreme law of this State are in like manner abrogated and
annulled.
Third. We furthermore ordain and declare that all rights acquired and
vested under the Constitution of the United States, or under any act of
Congress passed in pursuance thereof, or under any laws of this State, and
not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in force and have the
same effect as if this ordinance had not been passed.
[sent to referendum 6 May 1861 by the legislature, and approved by the
voters by a vote of 104,471 to 47,183 on 8 June 1861]
[Missouri]
An act declaring the political ties heretofore existing between
the State of Missouri and the United States of America dissolved.
Whereas the Government of the United States, in the possession and
under the control of a sectional party, has wantonly violated the
compact originally made between said Government and the State of
Missouri, by invading with hostile armies the soil of the State,
attacking and making prisoners the militia while legally assembled
under the State laws, forcibly occupying the State capitol, and
attempting through the instrumentality of domestic traitors to usurp
the State government, seizing and destroying private property, and
murdering with fiendish malignity peaceable citizens, men, women, and
children, together with other acts of atrocity, indicating a
deep-settled hostility toward the people of Missouri and their
institutions; and
Whereas the present Administration of the Government of the United
States has utterly ignored the Constitution, subverted the Government
as constructed and intended by its makers, and established a despotic
and arbitrary power instead thereof: Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Missouri, That all
political ties of every character new existing between the Government
of the United States of America and the people and government of the
State of Missouri are hereby dissolved, and the State of Missouri,
resuming the sovereignty granted by compact to the said United States
upon admission of said State into the Federal Union, does again take
its place as a free and independent republic amongst the nations of the
earth.
This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
Approved, October 31, 1861.
[This act was passed by a rump legislature called into session in
Neosho, Mo., by Gov. C.F. Jackson (who had been removed from office
by the State Convention)]
[Kentucky]
Whereas, the Federal Constitution, which created the Government of the
United States, was declared by the framers thereof to be the supreme
law of the land, and was intended to limit and did expressly limit the
powers of said Government to certain general specified purposes, and did
expressly reserve to the States and people all other powers whatever,
and the President and Congress have treated this supreme law of the
Union with contempt and usurped to themselves the power to interfere
with the rights and liberties of the States and the people against the
expressed provisions of the Constitution, and have thus substituted for
the highest forms of national liberty and constitutional government a
central despotism founded upon the ignorant prejudices of the masses of
Northern society, and instead of giving protection with the Constitution
to the people of fifteen States of this Union have turned loose upon
them the unrestrained and raging passions of mobs and fanatics, and
because we now seek to hold our liberties, our property, our homes,
and our families under the protection of the reserved powers of the
States, have blockaded our ports, invaded our soil, and waged war upon our
people for the purpose of subjugating us to their will; and
Whereas, our honor and our duty to posterity demand that we shall not
relinquish our own liberty and shall not abandon the right of our
descendants and the world to the inestimable blessings of constitutional
government: Therefore,
Be it ordained, That we do hereby forever sever our connection with the
Government of the United States, and in the name of the people we do
hereby declare Kentucky to be a free and independent State, clothed with
all power to fix her own destiny and to secure her own rights and liberties.
And whereas, the majority of the Legislature of Kentucky have violated
their most solemn pledges made before the election, and deceived and
betrayed the people; have abandoned the position of neutrality assumed
by themselves and the people, and invited into the State the organized
armies of Lincoln; have abdicated the Government in favor of a military
despotism which they have placed around themselves, but cannot control,
and have abandoned the duty of shielding the citizen with their protection;
have thrown upon our people and the State the horrors and ravages of war,
instead of attempting to preserve the peace, and have voted men and money
for the war waged by the North for the destruction of our constitutional
rights; have violated the expressed words of the constitution by borrowing
five millions of money for the support of the war without a vote of the
people; have permitted the arrest and imprisonment of our citizens, and
transferred the constitutional prerogatives of the Executive to a military
commission of partisans; have seen the writ of habeus corpus susupended
without an effort for its preservation, and permitted our people to be
driven in exile from their homes; have subjected our property to
confiscation and our persons to confinement in the penitentiary as felons,
because we may choose to take part in a cause for civil liberty and
constitutional government against a sectional majority waging war agasint
the people and institutions of fifteen independent States of the old
Federal Union, and have done all these things deliberately against the
warnings and vetoes of the Governor and the solemn remonstrances of the
minority in the Senate and House of Representatives: Therefore,
Be it further ordained, That the unconstitutional edicts of a factious
majority of a Legislature thus false to their pledges, their honor, and
their interests are not law, and that such a government is unworthy of
the support of a brave and free people, and that we do therefore declare
that the people are thereby absolved from all allegiance to said government,
and that they have a right to establish any government which to them may
seem best adapted to the preservation of their rights and liberties.
[adopted 20 Nov 1861, by a "Convention of the People of Kentucky"]