Lincoln’s Election, Southern Secession: 1860 to April 1861Secession |
What was the sixth state to depart the Union? |
On January 25, 1861, the Pelican State left the Union. The delegates to the convention, held at Baton Rouge, adopted the following measure by a vote of 113 to 17:
We, the people of the State of Louisiana, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance passed by us in convention on the 22d day of November, in the year eighteen hundred and eleven, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America and the amendments of the said Constitution were adopted, and all laws and ordinances by which the State of Louisiana became a member of the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, repealed and abrogated; and that the union now subsisting between Louisiana and other States under the name of “The United States of America” is hereby dissolved.
The convention then adopted a second measure, recognizing the importance of navigation on the Mississippi River and offering to enter into stipulations with any friendly states or nations for that right.