Dew Essay
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State’s Rights or Slavery: The Leading Cause to Southerners Secession from the Union.
HIST 11: AMERICAN HISTORY TO 1877
November 21, 2021
When one is asked what factors contributed to the Southern State's secession from the Union after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November 1860, they would typically reply with either State’s rights or Slavery as their primary answer. Though there were many factors at play during this period of time, many historians have still not been able to reach a consensus as to whether State’s rights or Slavery contributed the most to the Southern State's secession from the Union. That is until Charles B. Dew tried to give out a definitive answer to this debate with his book Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War (A Nation Divided)
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The continents of the book contained information concerning historical accounts, commissioners’ speeches and letters, past documentation, and even his personal experience, to name a few. From the information Dew gathered, he was able to see what factors enabled the Southern States to secede from the Union. At the beginning of his book, Dew addresses the idea that perhaps racism and the cause of secession could, in fact, be intently connected to some degree.
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And if this turned out to be true, he believed that it is something that we as a society need to confront in order to both understand our troubled past and move towards a future in which justice and decency is shared amongst ourselves.
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This matter is further mentioned throughout the book on numerous occasions, and in the text, it can be inferred that Slavery/Racism did indeed play a role in the Southern State's secession alongside other factors.
Other factors that are listed throughout Dew’s book include differences in both ideologies
and cultures, clashing economies, failed pollical parties, antagonistic political philosophies, The 1
Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 9.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 9.
Free-Labor North, and the Slave-Labor South, to name a few. 3
However, the two factors that historians recognize to be the most influential included the institution of slavery and the concept of states’ rights.
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This can be seen in multiple instances throughout the entirety of the book. For example, there have been multiple instances of explicit references to slavery in many official documents that have emerged from the secession convention of the lower south; such documents include the preambles of both the States of Alabama and Texas.
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In which the preamble highlights the anxiety they had over the future of slavery and the hostility they felt towards the United States due to the dangerous infractions they have committed.
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While many instances proved that slavery did indeed play a part in the souths secession, Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, refuted this claim entirely. During his first speech on February 18, 1861, he stated that the sole reasons for the secession were due to the Northerner's tyranny and in defense of their states’ rights.
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In addition, in a book he published in 1881, titled The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government
, he claimed that slavery was a mere incident and was far from being the cause of the secession; he stated that the South fought for the noblest of principles which included the constitutional government, the supremacy of law, and the natural rights of man.
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However, this is not quite accurate, as it contradicts the various speeches and documents made by other individuals, who seemed to have a different perspective on the matter. This can be seen in the message that Governor John J. Pettus of Mississippi give to his 3
Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 15.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 15.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 15.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 15.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 18.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 21.
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state legislature on November 26, 1860.
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Within his message, he questions whether the lives, liberty, and property of his people can be safely entrusted to the Federal Government that has sided with the Northerners Black Republican philosophy; in addition, he believed that in order to
avoid their politics and free negro morals, secession was the only alternative.
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Additionally, the Governor of Alabama Andrew B. Moore also expressed similar concerns regarding this matter and goes on to say that every slaveholding state is in jeopardy of losing its core values and beliefs.
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While these statements do support the argument that slavery did indeed play a role in the souths secession to some extent, it lacks the impact and irrefutable evidence that is clearly needed to convince the general public. However, speeches carried out by William L. Harris provide substantial evidence that firmly proves that the institution of slavery did indeed lead to the succession of a handful of states from the Union. This is because he was very open to his audience when addressing his beliefs and was able to stir the emotions of the crowd when discussing them. This can be seen when he spoke at a joint session of the Georgia General Assembly in which he spoke about how defiant and greedy the North was becoming due to their forceful way of demanding for the equality of both the white and negro race in terms of what is written in the Constitution, which equates to equal representation, right of suffrage, and equality in the social circle to name a few.
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In addition to his speech, Harris's comments concerning the slaves proved not only to be shocking but perhaps highlighted one of the unnerving natures/truths of the Southerner's beliefs that substantially proved what motivated them to secede
from the Union. This is because he stated that the government their forefathers have created was 9
Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 26.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 26.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 26.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 30.
only built for the white man and had no room to concern itself with an inferior and barbaric race that was incapable of self-governing amongst themselves, thus making it impossible for them to associate themselves with the white man in terms of civil, political, and social equality.
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With this many instances that depicted the reasons as to why the South decided to secede from the Union, it is to no surprise that Dew was able to achieve his goal in answering the question many Historians were unable to unanimous agree upon.
One of the main reasons for his accomplishment was due to his resourcefulness in gathering all materials concerning the secession, many of which Historians did not consider or even realize the importance of such materials in the first place. One of the major pieces of evidence Dew used which helped emphasize his argument was the usage of the commissioners’ speeches and letters; this is because the content of these materials highlighted the true nature of the South and how it was mostly related to slavery. Due to this revelation, it has become apparent to the general public that one of the primary motives behind the secession of the Southern states was their selfish greed and ambition in staying superior to the African Americans.
References Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001.
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Dew, Charles B. Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. 31-32.
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