of 1860 and the inauguration of Lincoln in the following spring, was seized by the leaders of the South as the opportune moment for dissolving the Union.

The event showed that the measure had been carefully prepared. The actual work of secession was begun, as might have been anticipated, in South Carolina. The old disunion proclivities of that State had slumbered in the embers for thirty years, and were now ready to burst forth in flames. On the 17th of December, 1860, a convention, chosen by the people of South Carolina, assembled at Charleston, and, after three days of fiery discussion, passed a resolution that the Union, hitherto existing between South Carolina and the other States under the name of the United States of America, was dissolved. It was a step of fearful importance, portending war and universal discord. The action was contagious. The sentiment of disunion spread like an insanity among the Southern people. In a short time the cotton-growing States were almost unanimously in support of the measure. By the first of February, 1861, six other States-Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas-had passed ordinances of secession similar to that adopted by South Carolina, and had withdrawn from the Union. Nearly all the Senators and Representatives of those States, following the lead of their constituents, whom they themselves had instigated in their course, resigned their seats in Congress, returned to the South, and gave themselves fully to the disunion cause.

In the secession conventions, but little opposition was manifested to the movement. As a matter of fact, those who were opposed to disunion did not appear in the conventions, and their voices were unheard. The hotheaded leaders in the secession enterprise rushed together, carrying with them the enthusiastic support of the planters and the young politicians of the Southern States, and by these the work was done. In some instances a considerable minority vote was cast against disunion. A few speakers boldly denounced the measure as disloyal, bad in principle, ruinous in results. The course of Alexander H. Stephens, afterwards Vice-President of the Confederate States, was peculiar. He appeared in the Georgia convention, among a people with whom his voice had hitherto been prevalent in all matters affecting their interests. He undertook on the floor of the convention to stem the tide and to prevent the secession of his State. He delivered a long and powerful speech, in which, unfortunately for his fame, he defended the theory of secession, advocated the doctrine of State sovereignty, declared his intention of abiding by the decision of the convention and his State, but at the same time spoke against secession on the ground that the measure was impolitic, unwise, and likely to be disastrous in its results. Not a few other prominent men in different parts of the South held the same view; but the opposite opinion prevailed, and secession was accomplished.

The formation of a new Government followed fast on the heels of disunion. On the 4th of February, 1861, delegates from six of the seceded States assembled at Montgomery, Alabama, and proceeded to form a new Government, under the name of the Confederate States of America. On the 8th of the month the organization was completed by the election of Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, as provisional President, and Alexander H.