The first theme is secession. The ideas on secession varied in the North and South and, were in fact, usually polar opposites on the respective sides. The secession of the Southern states is central to this chapter of American History.

In the North, people were concerned about the secession movement. When Lincoln gave his inaugural address, he addressed the Northern concerns. "It follows from these views that no state upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union: that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances." Lincoln went on to state, "Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy.

Lincoln said that the South was the minority and the minority could not make the rules that would affe

George Templeton tells in his account, "The Outbreak of War Galvanizes New York City," about the common peoples reactions to the secessionist movement after the Fort Sumter incident. "The Northern backbone is much stiffened already. Many who stood up for 'Southern rights' and complained of wrongs done the South has fired the first gun, they are ready to go all lengths in supporting the government...." "From all I can learn, the effect of this on Democrats, heretofore Southern and quasi-treasonable in their talk, has fully justified the sacrifice. I hear of [prominent conservative Democrats] denouncing rebellion and declaring themselves ready to go all lengths in upholding government. If this class of men has been secured and converted to loyalty, the gain to the country is worth ten Sumters...." It seems that the South surrendered all credibility and by attacking did unify the Union. "We are living a month of common life every day...the attitude of New York and the whole!

There were many people who traveled to the South and witnessed punishment of slaves that deeply affected many and caused them to support the cause of abolition. In James L. Huston's writing, he quotes many people who witnessed the whippings and punishments of slaves and their horror at having witnessed such events. Mary Livermore's account is a good example of the description of the horror of watching the punishing of a slave. Ms. Livermore witnessed a son of a plantation owner beating a slave. She was told by him, "You haf t' lick niggers, or they'd run over you. You don't know the South yit."

William Lloyd Garrison, the most prominent abolitionist in the antebellum period, used strong language to explain his feelings about slavery. "I shall strenuously contend for the immediate enfranchisement of our slave population. In Park-street Church, on the Fourth of July, 1829, in an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to the popular but pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition. I seize this opportunity to make a full and unequivocal recantation, and thus publicly to ask pardon of my God, of my country, and of my brethren the poor slaves, for having uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice and absurdity. Two years later, Garrison produced the Declaration of Sentiments of the American Anti-Slavery Convention. In this declaration, Garrison continued to use strong language stating, "Slavery is a crime...it must be broken up."

In 1860, the move to secession has come to fruit and the leaders of the Southern states give their justifications for their exodus from the Union. Robert Toombs stated, "Surely no one will deny that the election of Lincoln is the indorsement of the policy of those who elected him, and an indorsement of his own opinions (referring to abolition)." South Carolinian Christopher Meeminger wrote the justification for the secession of South Carolina. He opened in saying, "...that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in their withdrawal from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other Slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that time these encroachmen

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Approximate Word count = 2239
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)