Delegates to the Convention of the People of South Carolina unanimously approve an ordinance to secede from the United States and form the Palmetto Republic.
Tag: Sectionalism
Compromise Efforts: I Am for Fighting Again
Senator John J. Crittenden introduces a complex program designed to end the sectional crisis and preserve the Union.
Barking dogs never bite
President-elect Abraham Lincoln tries to reach out to influential southerners to find some sort of rapidly vanishing middle ground in the unfolding sectional crisis.
The evil has now passed beyond control
Treasury Secretary Howell Cobb became the first member of President James Buchanan’s cabinet to resign over the sectional crisis. He would not be the last.
Compromise Efforts: The Argument Is Exhausted
The U.S. House of Representatives forms a committee to hammer out a compromise between North and South, but both sides show signs of inflexibility.
President Buchanan’s 1860 Message to Congress
The last annual message of James Buchanan’s presidency acknowledges that North and South are “now arrayed against each other.” He offers suggestions on how to resolve the crisis, but he leaves both sections dissatisfied.