Secession

Lincoln’s election was therefore a trigger for secession, but the reaction depended on years of conflict over slavery, territorial expansion and political power.

At the end of this period, in 494 BC, plebeians withdrew from Rome in the first secession. Collective withdrawal gave them leverage that individual complaints lacked: the patricians could not easily maintain the community and its defence without them. The resulting concessions included the creation of tribunes, officials who represented plebeians and could intervene against unjust official actions.

Southern leaders defended secession as a way of protecting their states’ interests and powers. Slavery was central to the interests they sought to protect: Mississippi’s declaration of secession explicitly identified its position with slavery. In March 1861, Confederate vice-president Alexander Stephens openly defended the new government as founded on racial inequality and slavery.