South Carolina Secedes, Naming Slavery as the Cause
The state's own secession declaration says the North's hostility to slavery released it from the Union
Quick facts
- Date
- December 20, 1860
- Vote
- Unanimous, South Carolina secession convention
- Stated cause
- Slavery, per the convention's own declaration
What happened
A South Carolina convention voted unanimously to secede on December 20, 1860, becoming the first state to leave the Union. Four days later the convention issued a Declaration of the Immediate Causes, spelling out its reasoning in its own words rather than leaving it to later interpretation. The document complains that non-slaveholding states have refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, have permitted abolition societies to operate, and have elected a president, Lincoln, whose party holds that slavery is wrong. It states plainly that the Northern states' hostility to "the institution of slavery" has released South Carolina from its constitutional obligations. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed by February 1, 1861, each producing similar declarations.
Why it matters
South Carolina's declaration removes any need to guess at secession's motive: the convention delegates wrote down that slavery, and the North's perceived threat to it, was their reason for leaving. It set the template the next six Deep South states would follow within six weeks.
How we know
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School hosts the full text of the Declaration of the Immediate Causes, the state's own primary-source explanation adopted by its secession convention.
Sources
- Avalon Project, Yale Law School. Confederate States of America - Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina · Primary source (author-declared)avalon.law.yale.edu · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- National Park Service. South Carolina Secession · Reputable sourcenps.gov · The domain "nps.gov" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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