Fragile Freedom

Until this point, the states that seceded from the Union had been perhaps more diplomatic when it came to their Ordinances of Secession, passing sweeping statements rather than commentaries on the current political climate or tensions that had arose with the election of 1860. Though the undertones were there, the closest mention even to slavery was the term “Property” used two days prior when Mississippi declared its own intention to withdraw from the United States. Then, on January 11th, 1861 Alabama became the fourth State to declare itself free of the Constitution and the authority of the Federal Government in Washington D.C.. The language was plain, and without any pretexts, as it declared: Whereas, the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of president and vice-president of the United States of America, by a sectional party, avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions and to the peace and security of the people of the State of Alabama, preceded by many and dangerous infractions