After the October elections, in the autumn of 1860, had been carried by
the Republicans, the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the
United States, in November, became a foregone conclusion. On the 5th day
of October,--the initial day of the American Rebellion,--Governor Gist,
of South Carolina, wrote a confidential circular-letter, which he
despatched by special messenger to the governors of the so-called Cotton
States. In this letter he requested an "interchange of opinions which he
might be at liberty to submit to a consultation of the leading men" of
his State. He added that South Carolina would unquestionably call a
convention as soon as it was ascertained that a majority of Lincoln
electors were chosen in the then pending presidential election. "If a
single State secedes," he wrote, "she will follow her. If no other State
takes the lead, South Carolina will secede; in my opinion, alone, if she
has any assurance that she will be soon followed by another or other
States; otherwise, it is doubtful." He asked information, and advised
concerted action.
The governors of North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Georgia sent replies; but the discouraging tone of their responses
establishes, beyond controversy, that, with the exception of South
Carolina, "the Rebellion was not in any sense a popular revolution, but
was a conspiracy among the prominent local office-holders and
politicians, which the people neither expected nor desired, and which
they were made eventually to justify and uphold by the usual arts and
expedients of conspiracy."
From the dawn of its existence the South had practically controlled the
government; she very naturally wished to perpetuate her control. The
extension of slavery and the creation of additional slave States was a
necessary step in the scheme, and became the well-defined single issue
in the presidential election, though not necessarily the primal cause of
the impending civil war. For the first time in the history of the
republic the ambition of the South met overwhelming defeat. In legal
form and by constitutional majorities Abraham Lincoln was chosen to the
presidency, and this choice meant, finally, that slavery should not be
extended.
An election was held in South Carolina in the month of October, 1860,
under the manipulation of the conspirators. To a Legislature chosen from
the proper material, Governor Gist, on November 5th, sent a message
declaring "our institutions" in danger from the "fixed majorities" of
the North, and recommending the calling of a State Convention, and the
purchase of arms and the material of war. This was the first official
notice and proclamation of insurrection.
The morning of November 7th decided the result of the national election.
From this time onward everything was adroitly managed to swell the
revolutionary furor. The people of South Carolina, and especially of
Charleston, indulged in a continuous holiday, amid unflagging
excitement, and, while singing the Marseillaise, prepared for war!
Everybody appeared to be satisfied,--the conspirators, because their
schemes were progressing, and the people, because, innocently duped,
they hoped for success.
The first half of the month of December had worn away. A new governor,
Francis W. Pickens, ruled the destinies of South Carolina. A Convention,
authorized by the Legislature, met at Columbia, the capital of the
State, and, on the 20th of December, passed unanimously what it called
an ordinance of secession, in the following words:--
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 23d day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1788, 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.
The ordinance was immediately made known by huge placards, issued from
the Charleston printing-offices, and by the firing of guns, the ringing
of bells, and other jubilations. The same evening South Carolina was
proclaimed an "independent commonwealth." Said one of the chief actors:
"The secession of South Carolina is not an event of a day. It is not
anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of
the Fugitive-Slave Law. It is a matter which has been gathering head for
thirty years." This was a distinct affirmation, which is corroborated by
other and abundant testimony, that the revolt was not only against
right, but that it was utterly without cause.
The events which took place in South Carolina were, in substance,
duplicated in her sister States of the South. Mississippi seceded on
January 9, 1861; Florida, on January 10; Alabama, on January 11;
Georgia, on January 18; Louisiana, on January 26; and Texas, on February
1; but not a single State, except Texas, dared to submit its ordinance
of secession to a direct vote of the people.
One of the most striking features in the early history of the secession
is the apparent delusion in the minds of the leaders that secession
could not result in war. Even after the firing upon Sumter, the delusion
continued to exist. Misled, perhaps, by the opinion of ex-President
Pierce,[1] the South believed that the North would be divided; that it
would not fight. It is but fair to say that the tone of a portion of the
Northern press, and the speeches of some of the Northern Democrats, and
the ambiguous way of speaking on the part of some of the Northern
Republicans rather warranted than discouraged such an opinion.
There was, however, one prominent man from Massachusetts, who had united
with the Southern leaders in the support of Breckenridge, who had wisdom
as well as wit, and who now sought to dispel this false idea. In the
month of December he was in Washington, and he asked his old associates
what it meant.
"It means," said they, "separation, and a Southern Confederacy. We will
have our independence, and establish a Southern government, with no
discordant elements."
"Are you prepared for war?" inquired Butler.
"Oh! there will be no war; the North will not fight."
"The North will fight. The North will send the last man and expend the
last dollar to maintain the government."
"But," said his Southern friends, "the North can't fight; we have too
many allies there."
"You have friends," said Butler, "in the North, who will stand by you so
long as you fight your battles in the Union; but the moment you fire on
the flag the Northern people will be a unit against you. And you may be
assured, if war comes, _slavery ends_."
Butler was far too sagacious a man not to perceive that war was
inevitable, and too sturdy and patriotic not to resist it. With a
boldness and frankness which have shown themselves through his whole
political career, he went to Buchanan; he advised and begged him to
arrest the commissioners, with whom he was then parleying, and to have
them tried for treason! Such advice it was as characteristic of Benjamin
F. Butler to give as it was of President Buchanan to disregard.