The Civil War Lives On 1

On December 20, 1860 the Electoral College met formally to elect Abraham Lincoln President of the United States. On that very same day a special convention was convened in South Carolina to consider and then approve the following Ordinance of Secession: ‘That the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United States of America is hereby dissolved.’ This bold move – one state out, with maybe more to follow [but no guarantee!], and 33 states in – passed by a vote of 169 to 0. This take-no-prisoners attitude not only is profound but also is not the kind of mindset that later generations will lightly dismiss. And, the evidence suggests, later generations didn’t.