"South Carolina's Ultimatum," engraved by Currier and Ives, portrays South Carolina as destroying herself in her threats to destroy the Union. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
Secession was only a first step in South Carolina's actions to separate from the United States. Other states followed South Carolina. By February of 1861, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi...
The Ordinance of Secession, 1860. This document marked the conclusion of a movement to declare Southern independence from a national government increasingly controlled by Northerners. It was the...
"The Impending Crisis at Charleston," published in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly," February 11, 1860, is a reference to the widely read book, "The Impending Crisis," by Hinton Helper. In the...
The lands added to the nation through the conquests of the Mexican War raised anew the question of whether or not slavery would be allowed to expand into the new territories of the west. For two years...
Runaway slaves were a constant problem in maintaining a workforce of unfree laborers. Slaves ran away because of mistreatment, out of a desire for freedom, or often simply to be reunited with husbands...