Ordinances of Secession
The ordinances of secession were the actual legal language by which the seceded
states severed their connection with the Federal Union. The declarations of causes...are where they tended to disclose their reasons for doing so,
although only four states issued separate declarations of causes.
The political theory of the time among secessionists required that the act of
secession be carried out by a specially elected convention or by referendum. In this sense
the "secessions" of both Missouri and Kentucky were flawed, as neither was
carried out in this manner. The Missouri secession ordinance was passed by rump
legislature and never approved by the people at large. The Kentucky secession ordinance
was adopted by vote of the Kentucky soldiers serving in the Confederate army at
Russellville.
These are offered in chronological order.
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AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of South Carolina and
other States united with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution of the
United States of America."
We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do
declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance adopted by
us in convention on the twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand
seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America
was ratified, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly of this State
ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the union now
subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the "United
States of America," is hereby dissolved.
Done at Charleston the twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 1.
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AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of Mississippi and other
States united with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution of the United
States of America."
The people of the State of Mississippi, in convention assembled, do ordain and
declare, and it is hereby ordained and declared, as follows, to wit:
Section 1. That all the laws and ordinances by which the said State of
Mississippi became a member of the Federal Union of the United States of America be, and
the same are hereby, repealed, and that all obligations on the part of the said State or
the people thereof to observe the same be withdrawn, and that the said State doth hereby
resume all the rights, functions, and powers which by any of said laws or ordinances were
conveyed to the Government of the said United States, and is absolved from all the
obligations, restraints, and duties incurred to the said Federal Union, and shall from
henceforth be a free, sovereign, and independent State.
Sec. 2. That so much of the first section of the seventh article of the
constitution of this State as requires members of the Legislature and all officers,
executive and judicial, to take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the
United States be, and the same is hereby, abrogated and annulled.
Sec. 3. That all rights acquired and vested under the Constitution of the
United States, or under any act of Congress passed, or treaty made, in pursuance thereof,
or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in
force and have the same effect as if this ordinance had not been passed.
Sec. 4. That the people of the State of Mississippi hereby consent to form a
federal union with such of the States as may have seceded or may secede from the Union of
the United States of America, upon the basis of the present Constitution of the said
United States, except such parts thereof as embrace other portions than such seceding
States.
Thus ordained and declared in convention the 9th day of January, in the year of
our Lord 1861.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 42.
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ORDINANCE OF SECESSION
We, the people of the State of Florida, in convention assembled, do solemnly
ordain, publish, and declare, That the State of Florida hereby withdraws herself from the
confederacy of States existing under the name of the United States of America and from the
existing Government of the said States; and that all political connection between her and
the Government of said States ought to be, and the same is hereby, totally annulled, and
said Union of States dissolved; and the State of Florida is hereby declared a sovereign
and independent nation; and that all ordinances heretofore adopted, in so far as they
create or recognize said Union, are rescinded; and all laws or parts of laws in force in
this State, in so far as they recognize or assent to said Union, be, and they are hereby,
repealed.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 54.
[Passed Jan. 10, 1861]
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An Ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of Alabama and the other
States united under the compact styled "The Constitution of the United States of
America"
Whereas, the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of
president and vice-president of the United States of America, by a sectional party,
avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions and to the peace and security of the people
of the State of Alabama, preceded by many and dangerous infractions of the constitution of
the United States by many of the States and people of the Northern section, is a political
wrong of so insulting and manacing a character as to justify the people of the State of
Alabama in the adoption of prompt and decided measures for their future peace and
security, therefore:
Be it declared and ordained by the people of the State of Alabama, in
Convention assembled, That the State of Alabama now withdraws, and is hereby withdrawn
from the Union known as "the United States of America," and henceforth ceases to
be one of said United States, and is, and of right ought to be a Sovereign and Independent
State.
Sec 2. Be it further declared and ordained by the people of the State of
Alabama in Convention assembled, That all powers over the Territory of said State, and
over the people thereof, heretofore delegated to the Government of the United States of
America, be and they are hereby withdrawn from said Government, and are hereby resumed and
vested in the people of the State of Alabama.
And as it is the desire and purpose of the people of Alabama to meet the
slaveholding States of the South, who may approve such purpose, in order to frame a
provisional as well as permanent Government upon the principles of the Constitution of the
United States,
Be it resolved by the people of Alabama in Convention assembled, That the
people of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and
Missouri, be and are hereby invited to meet the people of the State of Alabama, by their
Delegates, in Convention, on the 4th day of February, A.D., 1861, at the city of
Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, for the purpose of consulting with each other as to
the most effectual mode of securing concerted and harmonious action in whatever measures
may be deemed most desirable for our common peace and security.
And be it further resolved, That the President of this Convention, be and is
hereby instructed to transmit forthwith a copy of the foregoing Preamble, Ordinance, and
Resolutions to the Governors of the several States named in said resolutions.
Done by the people of the State of Alabama, in Convention assembled, at
Montgomery, on this the eleventh day of January, A.D. 1861.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, pp. 43-44.
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We the people of the State of Georgia in Convention assembled do declare and
ordain and it is hereby declared and ordained that the ordinance adopted by the State of
Georgia in convention on the 2nd day of Jany. in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred
and eighty-eight, whereby the constitution of the United States of America was assented
to, ratified and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the general assembly of
this State, ratifying and adopting amendments to said constitution, are hereby repealed,
rescinded and abrogated.
We do further declare and ordain that the union now existing between the State
of Georgia and other States under the name of the United States of America is hereby
dissolved, and that the State of Georgia is in full possession and exercise of all those
rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State.
Passed January 19, 1861.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 70.
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AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of Louisiana and other
States united with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution of the United
States of America."
We, the people of the State of Louisiana, in convention assembled, do declare
and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance passed by us in
convention on the 22d day of November, in the year eighteen hundred and eleven, whereby
the Constitution of the United States of America and the amendments of the said
Constitution were adopted, and all laws and ordinances by which the State of Louisiana
became a member of the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, repealed and abrogated;
and that the union now subsisting between Louisiana and other States under the name of
"The United States of America" is hereby dissolved.
We do further declare and ordain, That the State of Louisiana hereby resumes
all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the Government of the United States of
America; that her citizens are absolved from all allegiance to said Government; and that
she is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which appertain
to a free and independent State.
We do further declare and ordain, That all rights acquired and vested under the
Constitution of the United States, or any act of Congress, or treaty, or under any law of
this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in force and have the
same effect as if this ordinance had not been passed.
Adopted in convention at Baton Rouge this 26th day of January, 1861.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 80.
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AN ORDINANCE
To dissolve the Union between the State of Texas and the other States united
under the Compact styled "the Constitution of the United States of America."
WHEREAS, The Federal Government has failed to accomplish the purposes of the
compact of union between these States, in giving protection either to the persons of our
people upon an exposed frontier, or to the property of our citizens, and
WHEREAS, the action of the Northern States of the Union is violative of the
compact between the States and the guarantees of the Constitution; and,
WHEREAS, The recent developments in Federal affairs make it evident that the
power of the Federal Government is sought to be made a weapon with which to strike down
the interests and property of the people of Texas, and her sister slave-holding States,
instead of permitting it to be, as was intended, our shield against outrage and
aggression; THEREFORE,
SECTION 1.-- We, the people of the State of Texas, by delegates in convention
assembled, do declare and ordain that the ordinance adopted by our convention of delegates
on the 4th day of July, A.D. 1845, and afterwards ratified by us, under which the Republic
of Texas was admitted into the Union with other States, and became a party to the compact
styled "The Constitution of the United States of America," be, and is hereby,
repealed and annulled; that all the powers which, by the said compact, were delegated by
Texas to the Federal Government are revoked and resumed; that Texas is of right absolved
from all restraints and obligations incurred by said compact, and is a separate sovereign
State, and that her citizens and people are absolved from all allegiance to the United
States or the government thereof.
SEC. 2. This ordinance shall be submitted to the people of Texas for their
ratification or rejection, by the qualified voters, on the 23rd day of February, 1861, and
unless rejected by a majority of the votes cast, shall take effect and be in force on and
after the 2d day of March, A.D. 1861. PROVIDED, that in the Representative District of El
Paso said election may be held on the 18th day of February, 1861.
Done by the people of the State of Texas, in convention assembled, at Austin,
this 1st day of February, A.D. 1861.
[Ratified Feb. 23, 1861 by a vote of 46,153 for and 14,747 against]
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AN ORDINANCE to repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United State
of America by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under
said Constitution.
The people of Virginia in their ratification of the Constitution of the United
States of America, adopted by them in convention on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the
year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, having declared that the
powers granted under said Constitition were derived from the people of the United States
and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and
oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers not only to the injury
of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slave-holding States:
Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do declare and ordain, That the
ordinance adopted by the people of this State in convention on the twenty-fifth day of
June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the
Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and all acts of the General
Assembly of this State ratifying and adopting amendments to said Constitution, are hereby
repealed and abrogated; that the union between the State of Virginia and the other States
under the Constitution aforesaid is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is in
the full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong and
appertain to a free and independent State.
And they do further declare, That said Constitution of the United States of
America is no longer binding on any of the citizens of this State.
This ordinance shall take effect and be an act of this day, when ratified by a
majority of the voter of the people of this State cast at a poll to be taken thereon on
the fourth Thursday in May next, in pursuance of a schedule hereafter to be enacted.
Adopted by the convention of Virginia April 17,1861.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 223.
[ratified by a vote of 132,201 to 37,451 on May 23, 1861]
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AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union now existing between the State of Arkansas
and the other States united with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution of
the United States of America."
Whereas, in addition to the well-founded causes of complaint set forth by this
convention, in resolutions adopted on the 11th of March, A.D. 1861, against the sectional
party now in power in Washington City, headed by Abraham Lincoln, he has, in the face of
resolutions passed by this convention pledging the State of Arkansas to resist to the last
extremity any attempt on the part of such power to coerce any State that had seceded from
the old Union, proclaimed to the world that war should be waged against such States until
they should be compelled to submit to their rule, and large forces to accomplish this have
by this same power been called out, and are now being marshaled to carry out this inhuman
design; and to longer submit to such rule, or remain in the old Union of the United
States, would be disgraceful and ruinous to the State of Arkansas:
Therefore we, the people of the State of Arkansas, in convention assembled, do
hereby declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the
"ordinance and acceptance of compact" passed and approved by the General
Assembly of the State of Arkansas on the 18th day of October, A.D. 1836, whereby it was by
said General Assembly ordained that by virtue of the authority vested in said General
Assembly by the provisions of the ordinance adopted by the convention of delegates
assembled at Little Rock for the purpose of forming a constitution and system of
government for said State, the propositions set forth in "An act supplementary to an
act entitled `An act for the admission of the State of Arkansas into the Union, and to
provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the same, and for
other purposes,'" were freely accepted, ratified, and irrevocably confirmed, articles
of compact and union between the State of Arkansas and the United States, and all other
laws and every other law and ordinance, whereby the State of Arkansas became a member of
the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, in all respects and for every purpose
herewith consistent, repealed, abrogated, and fully set aside; and the union now
subsisting between the State of Arkansas and the other States, under the name of the
United States of America, is hereby forever dissolved.
And we do further hereby declare and ordain, That the State of Arkansas hereby
resumes to herself all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the Government of the
United States of America; that her citizens are absolved from all allegiance to said
Government of the United States, and that she is in full possession and exercise of all
the rights and sovereignty which appertain to a free and independent State.
We do further ordain and declare, That all rights acquired and vested under the
Constitution of the United States of America, or of any act or acts of Congress, or
treaty, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall
remain in full force and effect, in nowise altered or impaired, and have the same effect
as if this ordinance had not been passed.
Adopted and passed in open convention on the 6th day of May, A.D. 1861.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, pp. 287-88.
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AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of North Carolina and the
other States united with her, under the compact of government entitled "The
Constitution of the United States."
We, the people of the State of North Carolina in convention assembled, do
declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance adopted by
the State of North Carolina in the convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the
United States was ratified and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General
Assembly ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed,
rescinded, and abrogated.
We do further declare and ordain, That the union now subsisting between the
State of North Carolina and the other States, under the title of the United States of
America, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of North Carolina is in full possession
and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and
independent State.
Done in convention at the city of Raleigh, this the 20th day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1861, and in the eighty-fifth year of the independence of said State.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, pp. 335-336.
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DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND ORDINANCE dissolving the federal relations
between the State of Tennessee and the United States of America.
First. We, the people of the State of Tennessee, waiving any expression of
opinion as to the abstract doctrine of secession, but asserting the right, as a free and
independent people, to alter, reform, or abolish our form of government in such manner as
we think proper, do ordain and declare that all the laws and ordinances by which the State
of Tennessee became a member of the Federal Union of the United States of America are
hereby abrogated and annulled, and that all the rights, functions, and powers which by any
of said laws and ordinances were conveyed to the Government of the United States, and to
absolve ourselves from all the obligations, restraints, and duties incurred thereto; and
do hereby henceforth become a free, sovereign, and independent State.
Second. We furthermore declare and ordain that article 10, sections 1 and 2, of
the constitution of the State of Tennessee, which requires members of the General Assembly
and all officers, civil and military, to take an oath to support the Constitution of the
United States be, and the same are hereby, abrogated and annulled, and all parts of the
constitution of the State of Tennessee making citizenship of the United States a
qualification for office and recognizing the Constitution of the United States as the
supreme law of this State are in like manner abrogated and annulled.
Third. We furthermore ordain and declare that all rights acquired and vested
under the Constitution of the United States, or under any act of Congress passed in
pursuance thereof, or under any laws of this State, and not incompatible with this
ordinance, shall remain in force and have the same effect as if this ordinance had not
been passed.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 290.
[Sent to referendum May 6, 1861 by the legislature, and approved by the voters
by a vote of 104,471 to 47,183 on June 8, 1861.]
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An act declaring the political ties heretofore existing between the State of
Missouri and the United States of America dissolved.
Whereas the Government of the United States, in the possession and under the
control of a sectional party, has wantonly violated the compact originally made between
said Government and the State of Missouri, by invading with hostile armies the soil of the
State, attacking and making prisoners the militia while legally assembled under the State
laws, forcibly occupying the State capitol, and attempting through the instrumentality of
domestic traitors to usurp the State government, seizing and destroying private property,
and murdering with fiendish malignity peaceable citizens, men, women, and children,
together with other acts of atrocity, indicating a deep-settled hostility toward the
people of Missouri and their institutions; and
Whereas the present Administration of the Government of the United States has
utterly ignored the Constitution, subverted the Government as constructed and intended by
its makers, and established a despotic and arbitrary power instead thereof: Now,
therefore,
Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Missouri, That all
political ties of every character new existing between the Government of the United States
of America and the people and government of the State of Missouri are hereby dissolved,
and the State of Missouri, resuming the sovereignty granted by compact to the said United
States upon admission of said State into the Federal Union, does again take its place as a
free and independent republic amongst the nations of the earth.
This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
Approved, October 31, 1861.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, pp. 752-53.
[This act was passed by a rump legislature called into session in Neosho, by
Gov. C.F. Jackson (who had been removed from office by the State Convention)]
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Whereas, the Federal Constitution, which created the Government of the United
States, was declared by the framers thereof to be the supreme law of the land, and was
intended to limit and did expressly limit the powers of said Government to certain general
specified purposes, and did expressly reserve to the States and people all other powers
whatever, and the President and Congress have treated this supreme law of the Union with
contempt and usurped to themselves the power to interfere with the rights and liberties of
the States and the people against the expressed provisions of the Constitution, and have
thus substituted for the highest forms of national liberty and constitutional government a
central despotism founded upon the ignorant prejudices of the masses of Northern society,
and instead of giving protection with the Constitution to the people of fifteen States of
this Union have turned loose upon them the unrestrained and raging passions of mobs and
fanatics, and because we now seek to hold our liberties, our property, our homes, and our
families under the protection of the reserved powers of the States, have blockaded our
ports, invaded our soil, and waged war upon our people for the purpose of subjugating us
to their will; and
Whereas, our honor and our duty to posterity demand that we shall not
relinquish our own liberty and shall not abandon the right of our descendants and the
world to the inestimable blessings of constitutional government: Therefore,
Be it ordained, That we do hereby forever sever our connection with the
Government of the United States, and in the name of the people we do hereby declare
Kentucky to be a free and independent State, clothed with all power to fix her own destiny
and to secure her own rights and liberties.
And whereas, the majority of the Legislature of Kentucky have violated their
most solemn pledges made before the election, and deceived and betrayed the people; have
abandoned the position of neutrality assumed by themselves and the people, and invited
into the State the organized armies of Lincoln; have abdicated the Government in favor of
a military despotism which they have placed around themselves, but cannot control, and
have abandoned the duty of shielding the citizen with their protection; have thrown upon
our people and the State the horrors and ravages of war, instead of attempting to preserve
the peace, and have voted men and money for the war waged by the North for the destruction
of our constitutional rights; have violated the expressed words of the constitution by
borrowing five millions of money for the support of the war without a vote of the people;
have permitted the arrest and imprisonment of our citizens, and transferred the
constitutional prerogatives of the Executive to a military commission of partisans; have
seen the writ of habeus corpus susupended without an effort for its preservation, and
permitted our people to be driven in exile from their homes; have subjected our property
to confiscation and our persons to confinement in the penitentiary as felons, because we
may choose to take part in a cause for civil liberty and constitutional government against
a sectional majority waging war agasint the people and institutions of fifteen independent
States of the old Federal Union, and have done all these things deliberately against the
warnings and vetoes of the Governor and the solemn remonstrances of the minority in the
Senate and House of Representatives: Therefore,
Be it further ordained, That the unconstitutional edicts of a factious majority
of a Legislature thus false to their pledges, their honor, and their interests are not
law, and that such a government is unworthy of the support of a brave and free people, and
that we do therefore declare that the people are thereby absolved from all allegiance to
said government, and that they have a right to establish any government which to them may
seem best adapted to the preservation of their rights and liberties.
Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 741.
[Adopted Nov. 20, 1861, in Russellville, by a group of Kentuckians styling
itself as a "Convention of the People of Kentucky."]
