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Texas Secession. Essential Questions: Define characteristics of the Civil War & Reconstruction Era. Explain the significance of 1861. Explain reasons for the involvement of Texas in the Civil War such as states’ rights, slavery, sectionalism, tariffs, and secession.
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Texas Secession • Essential Questions: • Define characteristics of the Civil War & Reconstruction Era. • Explain the significance of 1861. • Explain reasons for the involvement of Texas in the Civil War such as states’ rights, slavery, sectionalism, tariffs, and secession. • Main Idea: Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. In 1861, Southern states, including Texas, formed the Confederate States of America.
Many Issues Divide the Country • Tariffs – taxes on trade • 1828 “Tariff of Abominations” (a high tax) • South hated it • Forced to sell cotton @ 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.
Many Issues Divide the Country • Sectionalism – loyalty to the interests of one's own region or section of the country, rather than the nation as a whole • Many Texans came from southern states and grew the chief cash crop, which was cotton. • Texas resembled the economy, social structure, customs, and political values of the South which concentrated on plantation agriculture, slave labor, and the Democratic Party.
Many Issues Divide the Country • States Rights – Texans believed that states should be able to make their own political, economic, and social decisions. • 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
Southern Society in 1850s Upper Class – Slave Elite Middle class – Few Slaves Lower Middle Class – 1 or 2 Slaves Lower Class – No Slaves Slaves
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 • Secession: Southerners argued that sovereignty rested with the states, saying the states entered the Union voluntarily and could likewise leave.
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 can’t 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.”
Sam Houston Quote #1 “Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives you may win Southern independence, but I doubt it. The North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to love in a given direction, the move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche.”
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.
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
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
Sam Houston Quote #2 “Would you be willing to deluge [flood] the capital of Texas with the blood of Texans, merely to keep one poor old man in a position for a few days longer, in a position that belongs to the people? No! . . . Go tell my deluded friends that I am proud of their friendship, of their love and loyalty, . . . [but] to go to their homes and to conceal from the world that they would have been guilty of such an act.”
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