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Secession Facts

Secession Facts
General speaking, secession is the process by which a section or group within a nation-state breaks away from the main body to form a new, separate nation-state. In recent history, the dissolution and the fall of the communist bloc countries of the eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the late 1980s and early 1990s is a good example of secession. Several states within the Soviet Union, such as the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, seceded to form their own independent nation-states. In American history, secession refers to when many of the slave states of the south broke away to form the Confederate States of America in 1861, resulting in the United States, or American, Civil War from 1861-1865.
Interesting Secession Facts:
Technically, the American Revolution was a secessionist war more so than a revolution because it involved the thirteen American colonies seceding from the United Kingdom to form the United States of America.
The idea of the "right to secede" has been debated throughout American history; before and after the Civil War.
During the 1830s, when the idea of slavery was accepted although not practiced by the governments of northern states, many abolitionists advocated that free states should secede to form an anti-slavery government.
Many of the political leaders of South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union during the Nullification Crisis of the 1830s.
Most modern historians of the U.S. Civil War - such as William Freeling who wrote Prelude to the Civil War: The Nullification Crisis in South Carolina 1816-1836 - believe that the Nullification Crisis played a major role in the eventual secession of the southern states from the Union.
When Texas seceded from Mexico in 1836 and became the Republic of Texas, it would technically be the second secession in American history.
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860, thereby being the first state to comprise the Confederate States of America (CSA).
South Carolina was then joined by ten other southern states to form the CSA: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
After the first six states of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas seceded in the last month of 1860 and the first two months of 1861, it would not be until April 17 when Virginia would secede, which led to the remaining states to quickly follow suit.
Montgomery, Alabama was the first capital of the CSA from February 4, 1861 until May 29, 1861.
After May 29, 1861, the CSA capital was in Richmond, Virginia where it stayed until the end of the Civil War.
Missouri and Kentucky essentially witnessed secessions within the greater secession as pro-Confederate officials in those states declared secession from the Union, but their state government officially stayed in the United States.
Missouri and Kentucky had several units that fought on both sides in the Civil War and was the site of some of many battles where it was literally brother fighting brother.


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