Ambiguous Words

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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 Carolina

seceded from the federal Union. The Union and the Confederacy severely clashed in

their views on the Constitution; the South felt that individual states should have the right

to nullify laws, while Abraham Lincoln believed the federal government should appoint

representatives for individual states. The South and Abraham Lincoln contrasted

sharply on the idea of secession because the Constitution was ambiguous regarding

Immediately following the election of Lincoln, the southern secessionists wanted

to separate from the Union. Southerners feared that the Republican victory in 1860

would "interfere in their domestic concerns-particularly their right to property and slaves

as guaranteed by the fifth amendment of the Bill of Rights" (Jones 24). As a result, the

state of South Carolina held a convention and voted to secede from the Union.

Following South Carolina's lead, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and

. . . does not propose to make the old Union more perfect, but to 'form a more perfect

Address, Lincoln emphasized the fact that southerners had no reasonable cause for

sovereignty," (5). Therefore, if the Union tried in anyway to relieve the South of their

thus, infringing on their natural rights to life, liberty and property. Additionally, the

He felt that there was no economic advantage to joining an independent slave South.

Union;' that is, to create a new and better one" (6). At the convention, the southerners

interpretation of the Declaration of Independence was the opposite of Lincoln's, causing

Contrarily, Lincoln saw no reason why the South would secede from the Union.

Confederacy felt that the federal government wanted to encroach upon their natural

Some common words found in the essay are:
Declaration Independence, Confederate America, Lincoln Unionists, Likewise Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, Cotesworth Pinckney, Union Confederacy's, Question Southerners, Founding Fathers's, North South, declaration independence, secede union, south carolina, federal government, interpretation declaration independence, lincoln believed, lincoln confederacy, abraham lincoln, natural rights, states's rights, jones 24,

Approximate Word count = 886
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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