1. Texas Secession Essential Questions:
Define characteristics of the Civil War & Reconstruction Era.
Explain the significance of 1861.
Explain reasons for the involvement of Texas in the Civil War such as states’ rights, slavery, sectionalism, tariffs, and secession.
Main Idea: Abraham Lincoln was elected president in In 1861, Southern states, including Texas, formed the Confederate States of America.

2. Many Issues Divide the Country
Tariffs – taxes on trade
1828 “Tariff of Abominations” (a high tax)
South hated it
Forced to sell low prices to be competitive
Pay high prices for North manufactured goods
“Nullification Crisis” Results
South Carolina believed that states had the right to nullify a federal law it considered unconstitutional.
South Carolina threatened to secede but a compromise ended the threat. This issue continued to brew until 1861.

3. Many Issues Divide the Country
Sectionalism – loyalty to the interests of one's own region or section of the country, rather than the nation as a whole
Many Texans came from southern states and grew the chief cash crop, which was cotton.
Texas resembled the economy, social structure, customs, and political values of the South which concentrated on plantation agriculture, slave labor, and the Democratic Party.

4. Many Issues Divide the Country
States Rights – Texans believed that states should be able to make their own political, economic, and social decisions.
Slavery – Texans believed that slavery was vital to the economy; opposed Republican Party b/c most members did NOT want to see slavery spread to new territories

5. The Convention Votes on Secession
Governor Sam Houston opposed secession by declaring that Texas could be better protect its interest by staying in the Union.
“South can’t win the war”
Texans favoring secession called a convention. The Texas Secession Convention met in Austin in January 1861.
They adopted the Ordinance of Secession, which declared that the U.S. abused its power to “strike down the interest and prosperity of the people of Texas.”

6. The Convention Votes on Secession
On February 23, 1861 the people of Texas approved secession by a wide margin.
Texas became the seventh state of eleven to secede from the U.S. and form a new country in the South.

7. Houston is Removed
When the Texas Secession Convention ordered all states officials to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, Houston refused and was removed as governor.
President Lincoln offered Houston the use of federal troops if he would oppose the convention that voted for secession, but, unwilling to cause a civil war in Texas, Houston refused.
Governor Sam Houston