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ProQuest Information and Leaming 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Secession, Sequence, and the State: South Carolina's Decision to Lead the Secession Movement in 1860 Lawrence Anderson Department ofPolitical Science McGill University, Montreal July2001 A thesis submitted to the FacultyofGraduate Studies and Research inpartial fi,dfillment orthe requirements ofthe degree ofDoctorofPhilosophy. • © Lawrence Anderson 2001 National Ubrary BmIiothèQue nationale 1+1 ofC8nada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 315 WeliaglDn SIr_ 315. rue WeIingtDn 0IawaON K1A 0N4 OI-.ON K1A0N4 c.nada c.n.da The author bas granted a non L'auteur a accordé me licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant à la National Library ofCanada ta Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, 10aD, distnbute or sen reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies ofthis thesis inmicroform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfichel_ de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électromque. The author retains ownership ofthe L'auteur conserve lapropriété du copyright inthis thesÎS. Neitherthe droit d'auteur quiprotège cette thèse. thesis nor substantiaJ extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels maybe printed orotherwise de celle-ci ne doivent ê1re imprimés reproduced witbout the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. 0-612-75603-3 Canadl • • @ Lawrence M. Anderson • For my parents • ii • "As it is, we have the wolfby the ears, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Iustice is in one scale, and self-preservation inthe other." -Thomas Jefferson on slavery "Our Federal Union-it must be preserved." -AndrewJackson "The Union-next to ourliberty mostdear." -John C. Calhoun responding to Jackson "The only question...is can the Union and Slavery exist together?" -William Henry Trescott "1 believe this Union and slavery cannot stand together." -Armistead Burt '~om the gods would destroy, they fust make mad." -Euripides • ili CONTENTS • Abstract vii Résumé viü Acknowledgements ix L An Introduction to the Project 1 A. Introduction 1 B. South Carolina and Secession 4 C. Methodology 6 D. Chapter Outlines and Conclusion 10 II. Chapter 1: The State, Secession, and the Framework 12 A. Introduction 12 B. Literature Review: the State and the States 13 1. The European State 14 2. The State in the United States 16 a. Institutions Maintaining Limited Government 19 b. Compact Theory 20 c. Threats to the Maintenance ofLimited Govenunent 26 C. Literature Review: Secession 28 1. Secession: Effectand Cause 30 2. Theories ofSecession 31 a. Wood's Preconditions ofSecession 31 b. Hechter's Dynamic ofSecession 39 c. Dion's Model 46 d. Bartkus's Dynamic ofSecession 52 e. Other Relevant Theories ofSecession 58 D. A Framework for the analysis ofSecession 60 1. Grievance: Losses Loom Larger 64 a. A Theory ofGrievance 64 2. Leadership 68 3. Institutional Design ofthe State 72 4. Clear, Established Boundaries ofGrievance 76 S. The Sequence ofSecession and Host State Intervention 77 E. Conclusion 82 ill. Chapter2: The History ofChallenges to Central State Authority inthe Union 84 A. Introduction 84 B. EarlyChallenges to Central State Authority 86 1. The Articles ofConfederation 86 2. The Kentucky and VirginiaResolutions 87 • 3. The Election of1800 90 iv 4~ The Hartford Convention 90 C. States' Rights in South Carolina 92 1. Nullification 92 • 2. The Concurrent Majority as Solution? 111 3. Nullification in Context 113 4. The Bluffton Movement 117 5. The Origins ofthe First Secession Crisis 118 a. Popular Sovereignty: AnEnd-run Around Anti-extension 121 b. The Nashville Convention of1850 and the Compromise of1850 123 6~ South Carolina's Attempt at Cooperative Secession 131 a. Timing Strategies 139 7. Institutional Explanations for Radicalism in South Carolina 141 D. Conclusion 150 IV~ Chapter 3: South Carolina Secedes 157 A. Introduction 157 B~ Beginnings ofSecession 158 1. Rhett's Fourth ofJuiy Speech 160 2. John Brown's Raid 164 3. Making Virginia "Take the Lead" 168 4. Alabama Makes a Move...and an Issue 175 5. Democratic Convention(s) of1860 176 6. Govemor Gist Plumbs the Depth ofSouthem Sentiment183 7. The Mercury Plan 189 C. Fear, and Momentum, and Secession 191 1. The Election ofLincoln 191 a. Consequences ofa Republican Victory 192 b. The South Loses its Last Veto Point 195 c. Lincoln's Election and the Abolition ofSlavery 196 2. An Early Convention Bill Passed 199 3. "Hammond's Defection" and the Paradoxical Position ofthe South 207 4. A Counter-revolution? Gist's Threat 214 5. A 116-dayWindowofOpportunity: Buchanan's Guarantee 216 6. The Convention Campaign in South Carolina 219 7. The Convention Election in Charleston 222 8. The Strategy orunilateral Secession 225 9. The Convention Meets: Secession is Accomplished 230 D. Explaining Non-slaveholders' Support for Secession (and Slavery) 235 E. Conclusion 241 1. The Case in Perspective 244 • 2. From South Carolina to the Restofthe South 246 v V. Chapter 4: The Three Souths 248 A. Introduction 248 B. The Early Seceders 254 • 1. Mississippi 255 2. Florida 259 3. Alabama 261 4. Georgia 264 5. Louisiana 269 6. Texas 272 C. The Late Seceders 272 1. Virginia 274 2. Arkansas 279 3. Tennessee: Unconventional Secession 282 4. North Carolina: The Last State Secedes 285 D. The Non Seceders: Border South States Look North 289 1. Missouri 290 2. Kentucky 293 3. Maryland 294 4. Delaware 296 E. Conclusion 298 VI. Conclusion 301 A. Summing Up and Looking Ahead 301 Bibliography 313 • vi Abstract • In the United States, the transition from aristocratic agriculturalism to liberal democratic industrialism was distinguished from instances of this transformation in other countries by a threat to the territorial integrity of the Union. In this dissertation, 1 provide novel insight into this unique challenge and its link to American political development. Drawing on recent worles on the process ofsecession, 1 have developed an innovative framework for the analysis of secession in which the institutional design ofthe state plays a central role in facilitating this act of territorial and political withdrawaL This framework specifies five factors that contribute to the development, timing, and success ofa movement for secession: grievance, the institutional design of the state, boundaries, leadership, and sequence. My framework is generalizable and can he used to illuminate the desire for secession in other regions ofthe world. In order to provide a thorough analysis ofthis case ofsecession, 1examine the historical background of the decision to secede, with an emphasis on the nullification crisis and the tirst secession crisis. Without the steps and missteps taken in these moments, secession would have been unlikely. In addition, 1 examine the actions of the other states of the South: the early-seceders of the Deep South, the late-seceders of the Upper South, and the non-seceders of the Border South. 1 conclude that secession in South Caralina was the result ofa nomber of dynamically interacting factors, beginning with the grievance experienced by the elites and the rest of the white, male population of South Carolina. This grievance was produced by demographic changes in the Union that allowed Republican Abraham. Lincoln to he elected president without needing electoral support in the South. The grievance Cfear) wrought by these changes animated the desire for secession, but secession was politically feasible because of the institutional design. ofthe American state. Central to my argument is the notion that federal states are bath easier to enter, because they facilitate the maintenance oflocal autonomy, and easier to exit (than other states), because the maintenance of state capacity and a high degree of autonomy at the state level makes withdrawal from the federai state possible with minimal dismption. The very sequence by which secession was accomplished provides essential insight into the dynamics of secession. The South did not secede simultaneously, but sequentially-with South Carolina seceding unilaterally, and forcing the hand ofthe remaining states. Given the divisions present inthe South, this strategy of seeking sequential exit through unilateral secession in South Carolina was the best possible strategy to realize the goal of a Southem Confederacy. • vii Résumé • Aux Etats-unis, la transition d'une société aristocratique de l'agriculture à une société démocratique, libérale, et industrielle est dinstincte du phénomène en d'autres pays par la menace à l'integrité des frontières de l'État. Cette thèse est une aperçu nouvel du défi unique américan. Les œuvres récentes sur la sécession servent comme point du départ, et je developpe une théorie innovatrice pour l'analyse de la sécession. D'après ma théorie la structure de l'état joue un rôle central en facilitant cet acte de retrait politique et territorial. Ma théorie spécifie cinq facteurs qui contribuent au développement, la syncronisation, et le succès d'une mouvment pour la sécession: un grie~ la structure institutionnelle de l' éta~ les frontières, la direction, et la séquence.