A Southern Perspective on Secession

The secession of the southern states on the eve of the Civil War in 1861 was the most dramatic manifestation of the states rights ideology and had its roots in the most conservative interpretation of the American Union as originally envisioned by the Founding Fathers. The southern states recurred to states rights to pre-empt what they believed to be an imminent revolution within the American Union that would leave the southern section at the mercy of radical abolitionists who had just won the presidency for their candidate by an entirely sectional vote. The legal dimension of secession remains a highly controversial subject even to this day. This book approaches the significant ideological and constitutional contest from a southern perspective and attempts to answer one of the most fundamental questions in American history, namely whether or not there was a right to secede.