“No emotion, any more than a wave, can long retain its own individual form.” - Henry Ward Beecher

 From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

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. Translation: take no prisoners!