Ambiguous Words
Essay Question: "Southerners maintained that secession was the ultimate expression of democracy, while Lincoln claimed it was rejection of democracy. How did they explain and justify their principles." On December 20, 1860, the Confederacy was born when South Carolinaseceded from the federal Union. The Union and the Confederacy severely clashed intheir views on the Constitution; the South felt that individual states should have the rightto nullify laws, while Abraham Lincoln believed the federal government should appointrepresentatives for individual states. The South and Abraham Lincoln contrastedsharply on the idea of secession because the Constitution was ambiguous regarding Immediately following the election of Lincoln, the southern secessionists wantedto separate from the Union. Southerners feared that the Republican victory in 1860would "interfere in their domestic concerns-particularly their right to property and slavesas guaranteed by the fifth amendment of the Bill of Rights" (Jones 24). As a result, thestate of South Carolina held a convention and voted to secede from the Union.Following South Carolina's lead, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and
Lincoln worried about the interpretation of the Declaration of Independence statementthat "all men are created equal. Aggression was sparked between Lincoln and the Confederacy because theConstitution and the Declaration of Independence lacked an explicit clause concerningblacks as "men" and states's rights. Contrarily, Lincoln saw no reason why the South would secede from the Union. As a result, theirinterpretation of the Declaration of Independence was the opposite of Lincoln's, causinganimosity between the two groups. when the parties to a treaty violate it, it is no longer binding" (7). Lincoln said "the economic interests ofthe 'grain growing states' of the upper South would be sacrificed in a 'CottonConfederacy' led by South Carolina" (106). Additionally, Lincoln insisted that secessionwould be economical suicide. Southern whites felt that they were acting in the tradition of the Revolution of 1776;therefore, they had a right to national independence and to nullify a constitutionalcompact that did not protect them from northern cruelty. At the convention, the southernersdeclared that "they are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states" (Stampp5). This notion lead the North to blame secessionists for distorting northern intentions. Likewise, Lincoln feared thatsouthern misunderstanding of northern intentions would create a threat leading to a civilwar.
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Acceptance Essays
