Texas and Mississippi Ordinances History Essay Research

Essay #4

Directions: The following question requires that you construct a 2 page single-spaced

essay utilizing the documents provided on the following pages as well as your

knowledge of the period from class and the textbook to inform your analysis.

Using the documents below (excerpts from the Texas and Mississippi Ordinances of

Secession) analyze the reasons why the deep South seceded from the United States in

late 1860 and early 1861. Be sure to identify and discuss specific elements of both

documents as well as the specific events to which they make reference. In addition,

address the question of what do these documents teach us about what people valued

and the responsibilities that citizens had in society at the time?

Source A

A declaration of the causes which impel the State of Texas to secede

from the Federal Union

…Texas abandoned her separate national existence and consented to become one of the

Confederated States to promote her welfare...She was received as a commonwealth

holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery--the

servitude of the African to the white race within her limits--a relation that had existed

from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people

intended should exist in all future time.

By the disloyalty of the Northern States and their citizens and the imbecility of the

Federal Government, infamous combinations of incendiaries and outlaws have been

permitted in those States and the common territory of Kansas to trample upon the

federal laws, to war upon the lives and property of Southern citizens in that territory,

and finally, by violence and mob law to usurp the possession of the same as exclusively

the property of the Northern States…

They have for years past encouraged and sustained lawless organizations to steal our

slaves and prevent their recapture, and have repeatedly murdered Southern citizens

while lawfully seeking their rendition.

They have invaded Southern soil and murdered unoffending citizens, and through the

press their leading men and a fanatical pulpit have bestowed praise upon the actors

and assassins in these crimes, while the governors of several of their States have

refused to deliver parties implicated and indicted for participation in such offences,

upon the legal demands of the States aggrieved.

They have, through the mails and hired emissaries, sent seditious pamphlets and

papers among us to stir up servile insurrection and bring blood and carnage to our

firesides.

They have sent hired emissaries among us to burn our towns and distribute arms and

poison to our slaves for the same purpose…

We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the

confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and

their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they

were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that

condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.

That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal

civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these

States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and

justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as

recognized by all Christian nations…By the secession of six of the slave-holding States,

and the certainty that others will speedily do likewise, Texas has no alternative but to

remain in an isolated connection with the North, or unite her destinies with the South.

Source B

A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of

Mississippi from the Federal Union.

In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the

government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent

reasons which have induced our course.

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery --- the greatest material

interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most

important portions of commerce of the earth. These products have become necessities of the

world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long

aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice

left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose

principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.

It has grown until it denies the right of property in slaves, and refuses protection to that right on

the high seas, in the Territories, and wherever the government of the United States had

jurisdiction.

It refuses the admission of new slave States into the Union, and seeks to extinguish it by confining

it within its present limits, denying the power of expansion.

It has nullified the Fugitive Slave Law in almost every free State in the Union, and has utterly

broken the compact which our fathers pledged their faith to maintain.

It advocates negro equality, socially and politically, and promotes insurrection and incendiarism in

our midst.

It has enlisted its press, its pulpit and its schools against us, until the whole popular mind of the

North is excited and inflamed with prejudice.

It has made combinations and formed associations to carry out its schemes of emancipation in

the States and wherever else slavery exists.

It seeks not to elevate or to support the slave, but to destroy his present condition without

providing a better.

It has invaded a State, and invested with the honors of martyrdom the wretch whose purpose was

to apply flames to our dwellings, and the weapons of destruction to our lives.

It has recently obtained control of the Government, by the prosecution of its unhallowed

schemes, and destroyed the last expectation of living together in friendship and brotherhood.

Utter subjugation awaits us in the Union, if we should consent longer to remain in it. It is not a

matter of choice, but of necessity. We must either submit to degradation, and to the loss of

property worth four billions of money, or we must secede from the Union framed by our fathers,

to secure this as well as every other species of property. For far less cause than this, our fathers

separated from the Crown of England.

Our decision is made. We follow their footsteps. We embrace the alternative of separation; and for

the reasons here stated, we resolve to maintain our rights with the full consciousness of the

justice of our course, and the undoubting belief of our ability to maintain it.

Essay #4 Directions: The following question requires that you construct a 2 page single-spaced essay utilizing the documents provided on the following pages as well as your knowledge of the period from class and the textbook to inform your analysis. Using the documents below (excerpts from the Texas and Mississippi Ordinances of Secession) analyze the reasons why the deep South seceded from the United States in late 1860 and early 1861. Be sure to identify and discuss specific elements of both documents as well as the specific events to which they make reference. In addition, address the question of what do these documents teach us about what people valued and the responsibilities that citizens had in society at the time? Source A A declaration of the causes which impel the State of Texas to secede from the Federal Union …Texas abandoned her separate national existence and consented to become one of the Confederated States to promote her welfare...She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery--the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits--a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time. By the disloyalty of the Northern States and their citizens and the imbecility of the Federal Government, infamous combinations of incendiaries and outlaws have been permitted in those States and the common territory of Kansas to trample upon the federal laws, to war upon the lives and property of Southern citizens in that territory, and finally, by violence and mob law to usurp the possession of the same as exclusively the property of the Northern States… They have for years past encouraged and sustained lawless organizations to steal our slaves and prevent their recapture, and have repeatedly murdered Southern citizens while lawfully seeking their rendition. They have invaded Southern soil and murdered unoffending citizens, and through the press their leading men and a fanatical pulpit have bestowed praise upon the actors and assassins in these crimes, while the governors of several of their States have refused to deliver parties implicated and indicted for participation in such offences, upon the legal demands of the States aggrieved. They have, through the mails and hired emissaries, sent seditious pamphlets and papers among us to stir up servile insurrection and bring blood and carnage to our firesides. They have sent hired emissaries among us to burn our towns and distribute arms and poison to our slaves for the same purpose… We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable. That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations…By the secession of six of the slave-holding States, and the certainty that others will speedily do likewise, Texas has no alternative but to remain in an isolated connection with the North, or unite her destinies with the South. Source B A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union. In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course. Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery --- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin. It has grown until it denies the right of property in slaves, and refuses protection to that right on the high seas, in the Territories, and wherever the government of the United States had jurisdiction. It refuses the admission of new slave States into the Union, and seeks to extinguish it by confining it within its present limits, denying the power of expansion. It has nullified the Fugitive Slave Law in almost every free State in the Union, and has utterly broken the compact which our fathers pledged their faith to maintain. It advocates negro equality, socially and politically, and promotes insurrection and incendiarism in our midst. It has enlisted its press, its pulpit and its schools against us, until the whole popular mind of the North is excited and inflamed with prejudice. It has made combinations and formed associations to carry out its schemes of emancipation in the States and wherever else slavery exists. It seeks not to elevate or to support the slave, but to destroy his present condition without providing a better. It has invaded a State, and invested with the honors of martyrdom the wretch whose purpose was to apply flames to our dwellings, and the weapons of destruction to our lives. It has recently obtained control of the Government, by the prosecution of its unhallowed schemes, and destroyed the last expectation of living together in friendship and brotherhood. Utter subjugation awaits us in the Union, if we should consent longer to remain in it. It is not a matter of choice, but of necessity. We must either submit to degradation, and to the loss of property worth four billions of money, or we must secede from the Union framed by our fathers, to secure this as well as every other species of property. For far less cause than this, our fathers separated from the Crown of England. Our decision is made. We follow their footsteps. We embrace the alternative of separation; and for the reasons here stated, we resolve to maintain our rights with the full consciousness of the justice of our course, and the undoubting belief of our ability to maintain it.