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Secession Debated: Georgia's Showdown in 1860
The critical northern antebellum debate matched the rhetorical skills of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in an historic argument over the future of slavery in a westward-expanding America. Two years later, an equally historic oratorical showdown between secessionists and Unionists in Georgia generated as much popular interest south of the Mason-Dixon line, and perhaps had an even more profound immediate effect on the future of the United States.
With Abraham Lincoln's "Black Republican" triumph in the presidential election of 1860 came ardent secessionist sentiment in the South. But Unionists were equally zealous and while South Carolina--a bastion of Disunionism since 1832--seemed certain to secede; the other fourteen slave states were far from decided. In the deep South, the road to disunion depended much on the actions of Georgia, a veritable microcosm of the divided South and geographically in the middle of the Cotton South. If Georgia went for the Union, secessionist South Carolina could be isolated. So in November of 1860 all the eyes of Dixie turned to tiny Milledgeville, pre-war capital of Georgia, for a legislative confrontation that would help chart the course toward civil war.
In Secession Debated, William W. Freehling and Craig M. Simpson have for the first time collected the seven surviving speeches and public letters of this greatest of southern debates over disunion, providing today's reader with a unique window into a moment of American crisis. Introducing the debate and debaters in compelling fashion, the editors help bring to life a sleepy Southern town suddenly alive with importance as a divided legislature met to decide the fate of Georgia, and by extension, that of the nation. We hear myriad voices, among them the energetic and self-righteous governor Joseph E. Brown who, while a slaveholder and secessionist, was somewhat suspect as a native North Georgian; Alexander H. Stephens, the eloquent Unionist whose "calm dispassionate approach" ultimately backfired; and fiery secessionist Robert Toombs who, impatient with Brown's indecisiveness and the caution of the Unionists, shouted to legislators: "Give me the sword! but if you do not place it in my hands, before God! I will take it." The secessionists' Henry Benning and Thomas R.R. Cobb as well as the Unionists Benjamin Hill and Herschel Johnson also speak to us across the years, most with eloquence, all with the patriotic, passionate conviction that defined an era. In the end, the legislature adopted a convention bill which decreed a popular vote on the issue in early January, 1861. The election results were close, mirroring the intense debate of two months before: 51% of Georgians favored immediate secession, a slim margin which the propaganda-conscious Brown later inflated to 58%. On January 19th the Georgia Convention sanctioned secession in a 166-130 vote, and the imminent Confederacy had its Southern hinge.
Secession Debated is a colorful and gripping tale told in the words of the actual participants, one which sheds new light on one of the great and hitherto neglected verbal showdowns in American history. It is essential to a full understanding of the origins of the war between the states.
With Abraham Lincoln's "Black Republican" triumph in the presidential election of 1860 came ardent secessionist sentiment in the South. But Unionists were equally zealous and while South Carolina--a bastion of Disunionism since 1832--seemed certain to secede; the other fourteen slave states were far from decided. In the deep South, the road to disunion depended much on the actions of Georgia, a veritable microcosm of the divided South and geographically in the middle of the Cotton South. If Georgia went for the Union, secessionist South Carolina could be isolated. So in November of 1860 all the eyes of Dixie turned to tiny Milledgeville, pre-war capital of Georgia, for a legislative confrontation that would help chart the course toward civil war.
In Secession Debated, William W. Freehling and Craig M. Simpson have for the first time collected the seven surviving speeches and public letters of this greatest of southern debates over disunion, providing today's reader with a unique window into a moment of American crisis. Introducing the debate and debaters in compelling fashion, the editors help bring to life a sleepy Southern town suddenly alive with importance as a divided legislature met to decide the fate of Georgia, and by extension, that of the nation. We hear myriad voices, among them the energetic and self-righteous governor Joseph E. Brown who, while a slaveholder and secessionist, was somewhat suspect as a native North Georgian; Alexander H. Stephens, the eloquent Unionist whose "calm dispassionate approach" ultimately backfired; and fiery secessionist Robert Toombs who, impatient with Brown's indecisiveness and the caution of the Unionists, shouted to legislators: "Give me the sword! but if you do not place it in my hands, before God! I will take it." The secessionists' Henry Benning and Thomas R.R. Cobb as well as the Unionists Benjamin Hill and Herschel Johnson also speak to us across the years, most with eloquence, all with the patriotic, passionate conviction that defined an era. In the end, the legislature adopted a convention bill which decreed a popular vote on the issue in early January, 1861. The election results were close, mirroring the intense debate of two months before: 51% of Georgians favored immediate secession, a slim margin which the propaganda-conscious Brown later inflated to 58%. On January 19th the Georgia Convention sanctioned secession in a 166-130 vote, and the imminent Confederacy had its Southern hinge.
Secession Debated is a colorful and gripping tale told in the words of the actual participants, one which sheds new light on one of the great and hitherto neglected verbal showdowns in American history. It is essential to a full understanding of the origins of the war between the states.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
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About the author
William W. Freehling
19 books19 followersWilliam W. Freehling is Singletary Professor of the Humanities Emeritus at the University of Kentucky
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 6, 2018
After the civil war, pro southern writers tried to rewrite history arguing that the civil war was not about slavery, but about state's rights. Their partial success is reflected by many people's beliefs today, especially the today of people relying on facebook memos with no citation, edited quotes, made up quotes. So what a delight to find this book which includes the pro and con speeches of the Georgia convention that debated whether Georgia should secede as a result of Lincoln's election. The speeches are unabridged and unedited.
Here are some selections, though I encourage everyone to read the entire book for themselves or some other source of original material from the words of those who argued for secession.
From Thomas Cobb:
"Mark me. my friends! The only tie which binds together this party at the North is the Slavery issue. Bank and anit-bank, Protection and Free Trade, Old Whig and Old Democrat, have all come together. The old issues are ignored, forgotten. Abolitionism and Agrarianism are the only specialities in their platform. This Aaron's rod has swallowed up all the others. and upon it alone has the battle been fought and the victory won....Did not Bell and Douglas and Beckinridge, one or the other, agree with them on every issue except slavery?
William Toombs made the common southern argument that the fugitive slave act trumped state's rights:
"Congress in 1797 passed a Fugitive Slave Law, that act never was faithfully respected all over the north, but it was not obstructed by state legislation until within the last 30 years, but the spirit of hostility to our rights became more active and determined, and in 1850 that act was found totally insufficient to recover and return fugitives from labor; therefore the act of 1850 was passed. The passage of that act was sufficient to rouse the demon of abolition all over the North.."
Even the "Unionist" speakers who spoke against secession acknowledged that the debate was about slavery, they only differed on whether delaying a decision on secession would be more effective in protecting slavery. From unionist Benjamin Hill:
"We complain, in general terms, that the anti-slavery sentiment at the North has been made an element of political power.
1. That a large political party has been organized in the Northern States, the great common idea of which is to prohibit the extension of slavery by Congress, and hostility to slavery generally.
2. That this party has succeeded in getting the control of many of the Northern State Legislatures and have procured the passage of acts nullifying the fugitive slave law, encouraging the rescue of fugitives, and seeking to punish as felons citizens of our southern states who pursue their slaves in the assertion of a plain Constitutional Right.....
5. We complain that the Northern States , thus controlled, are seeking to repudiate every Constitutional duty or provision, in favor or in recognition of slavery--to work the extinction of slavery and to secure to the negro social and political equality with the white race; and as far as possible; they disregard and nullify even the laws of the Southern States on these subjects. In proof of this complaint we show that Northern governors have actually refused to deliver up fugitives from justice, when the crime charged against such fugitives recognized under state law as property in slaves"
These are only some excerpts of the unabridged speeches. The book's editors do include footnotes and introductions to the speeches to provide context and explain specific references in the speeches that may not be known to the modern reader. But the genius of the book is that it lets the southerners themselves tell history that the cause of the civil war was slavery
Here are some selections, though I encourage everyone to read the entire book for themselves or some other source of original material from the words of those who argued for secession.
From Thomas Cobb:
"Mark me. my friends! The only tie which binds together this party at the North is the Slavery issue. Bank and anit-bank, Protection and Free Trade, Old Whig and Old Democrat, have all come together. The old issues are ignored, forgotten. Abolitionism and Agrarianism are the only specialities in their platform. This Aaron's rod has swallowed up all the others. and upon it alone has the battle been fought and the victory won....Did not Bell and Douglas and Beckinridge, one or the other, agree with them on every issue except slavery?
William Toombs made the common southern argument that the fugitive slave act trumped state's rights:
"Congress in 1797 passed a Fugitive Slave Law, that act never was faithfully respected all over the north, but it was not obstructed by state legislation until within the last 30 years, but the spirit of hostility to our rights became more active and determined, and in 1850 that act was found totally insufficient to recover and return fugitives from labor; therefore the act of 1850 was passed. The passage of that act was sufficient to rouse the demon of abolition all over the North.."
Even the "Unionist" speakers who spoke against secession acknowledged that the debate was about slavery, they only differed on whether delaying a decision on secession would be more effective in protecting slavery. From unionist Benjamin Hill:
"We complain, in general terms, that the anti-slavery sentiment at the North has been made an element of political power.
1. That a large political party has been organized in the Northern States, the great common idea of which is to prohibit the extension of slavery by Congress, and hostility to slavery generally.
2. That this party has succeeded in getting the control of many of the Northern State Legislatures and have procured the passage of acts nullifying the fugitive slave law, encouraging the rescue of fugitives, and seeking to punish as felons citizens of our southern states who pursue their slaves in the assertion of a plain Constitutional Right.....
5. We complain that the Northern States , thus controlled, are seeking to repudiate every Constitutional duty or provision, in favor or in recognition of slavery--to work the extinction of slavery and to secure to the negro social and political equality with the white race; and as far as possible; they disregard and nullify even the laws of the Southern States on these subjects. In proof of this complaint we show that Northern governors have actually refused to deliver up fugitives from justice, when the crime charged against such fugitives recognized under state law as property in slaves"
These are only some excerpts of the unabridged speeches. The book's editors do include footnotes and introductions to the speeches to provide context and explain specific references in the speeches that may not be known to the modern reader. But the genius of the book is that it lets the southerners themselves tell history that the cause of the civil war was slavery
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May 17, 2024how am i meant to review/rate this ,,,,, a nicely edited and organized collection of speeches from georgia's antebellum secession debate. organization & context is easy to understand and read, with notes from the editor. ideas/the actual speeches r obviously a bit silly bc its white people ranting about how the abolition of slavery is the devil's work, though you can see the oral skills of the speakers. still, good reference for understanding the context and situation that eventually led to southern states seceding & the subsequent civil war.
(set text for my seminar on the american civil war)
(set text for my seminar on the american civil war)
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November 16, 2021Very good, 90% all original contemporary speeches.
April 7, 2024
great collection of speeches on the secession debate in Georgia. relatively easy read
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June 30, 2015
Wonderfully edited and annotated, the book fails to get the fifth star for reasons out of its control: the narrow scope of the debates. These speeches are not heartening. The speakers in favor of secession are in a state of near-delusive hypocrisy concerning slavery and abolition, and the Unionists never once suggest that preserving the Union is more important than preserving slavery. They merely insist talk of secession is premature. In this regard, the secessionists have the upper hand: they correctly perceive that the North would continue to be antagonist towards slavery.
August 14, 2008
What's to debate? Southerners, always with the debating, for nothing they have laws and traditions! Just go already! Oy!
January 6, 2010
Only read if you really want to get down to the nitty gritty of Civil War details. I thought it was interesting, but I can't see many others feeling that way.
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January 7, 2014Really fascinating to see the different mindsets and arguments of the Southern intellectuals of Georgia.
July 5, 2015
A fantastic primary source of articulate and effectively-annotated debates.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews