Seeds of Secession 1848 -1860
Texas
Many Issues Divide the Counrty
The Republican Party Opposes Slavery
Many Northerners who were against slavery joined the Republican Party. They also blamed the Southern Democrats for the poor state of the economy in the late 1850s. The Republicans thought high tariffs, a homestead act, and other changes could bring back prosperity. Southerns were against these measures. They believed the rise of the Republicans would mean the end of slavery and the Southern way of life.
Southern States Vow to Secede
The Convention Votes on Secession
Houston asked the legislature to declare the convention illegal. Instead, the legislature supported the convention. It said it could act for the people.
The Texas Secession Convention met in early 1861. It adopted the Ordinance of Secession. This ordinance, or local law, said that Texas was declaring its freedom from the United States. Then the people of Texas voted for secession. Texas became the seventh state to secede.
Convention delegates
Convention voting
Counties for Secession
The Confederacy is Formed
Houston Removed and War Begins
The United States government believed that the Southern states had broken the law when they seceded. Lincoln stated that the Union was perpetual, continuing forever. He said he would do anything necessary to keep the Southern states in the Union.
Early in 1861 the Confederate states began taking control of military buildings within their borders. When U.S. troops refused to leave Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, Confederate soldiers began shooting.The attack on Fort Sumter marked the beginning of the Civil War.