What is the thesis of apostles of disunion?
“Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War” (University Press of Virginia) is a provocative argument about the war–that slavery and race were “absolutely critical factors at the heart of our great national crisis.”
When was Apostles disunion written?
Apostles of Disunion was published in 2001 by the University of Virginia Press and won the 2001 Fletcher Pratt Prize from the Civil War Round Table of New York. This 15th-anniversary edition was released in 2016 with a new Afterword.
What arguments did Southern commissioners make to justify secession?
how did southern leaders justify secession? They argued that since each state had voluntarily joined the union, it had the right to leave the union.
What was the primary function of the commissioners apostles of disunion?
In late 1860 and early 1861, state-appointed commissioners traveled the length and breadth of the slave South carrying a fervent message in pursuit of a clear goal: to persuade the political leadership and the citizenry of the uncommitted slave states to join in the effort to destroy the Union and forge a new Southern …
What is the definition of the word secession?
Definition of secession 1 : withdrawal into privacy or solitude : retirement. 2 : formal withdrawal from an organization.
What is a secession commissioner?
This slender volume examines the work of secession commissioners sent from the deep South to other slave states in the winter of 1860-1861. The men were charged with defending secession and urging fellow southerners to follow them out of the Union.
Why did South Carolina feel an urgency to secede?
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union on December 20, 1860. The victory of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election triggered cries for disunion across the slaveholding South.
What was the role of the commissioners and delegates who fanned out across the South in late 1860 and early 1861?
What does the term secession describe?
Why is secede important?
Secession precipitated the American Civil War. Secession had a long history in the United States—but as a threat rather than as an actual dissolution of the Union. Pro-secessionists found philosophical justification for altering or abolishing a government and instituting a new one in the Declaration of Independence.