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An Ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of Alabama
and the other States united under the compact styled "The Constitution of the
United States of America"
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 of the constitution of the United States by many of the
States and people of the Northern section, is a political wrong of so insulting
and menacing a character as to justify the people of the State of Alabama in the
adoption of prompt and decided measures for their future peace and security,
therefore:
Be it declared and ordained by the people of the State of
Alabama, in Convention assembled, That the State of Alabama now withdraws, and
is hereby withdrawn from the Union known as "the United States of America," and
henceforth ceases to be one of said United States, and is, and of right ought to
be a Sovereign and Independent State.
Sec 2. Be it further declared and
ordained by the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled, That all
powers over the Territory of said State, and over the people thereof, heretofore
delegated to the Government of the United States of America, be and they are
hereby withdrawn from said Government, and are hereby resumed and vested in the
people of the State of Alabama.
And as it is the desire and purpose of
the people of Alabama to meet the slaveholding States of the South, who may
approve such purpose, in order to frame a provisional as well as permanent
Government upon the principles of the Constitution of the United States,
Be it resolved by the people of Alabama in Convention assembled, That
the people of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee,
Kentucky and Missouri, be and are hereby invited to meet the people of the State
of Alabama, by their Delegates, in Convention, on the 4th day of February, A.D.,
1861, at the city of Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, for the purpose of
consulting with each other as to the most effectual mode of securing concerted
and harmonious action in whatever measures may be deemed most desirable for our
common peace and security.
And be it further resolved, That the
President of this Convention, be and is hereby instructed to transmit forthwith
a copy of the foregoing Preamble, Ordinance, and Resolutions to the Governors of
the several States named in said resolutions.
Done by the people of the
State of Alabama, in Convention assembled, at Montgomery, on this, the eleventh
day of January, A.D. 1861.
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