Secession Convention Proceedings

Timeline

Nov
1860

Dec
1860

Jan
1861

Feb
1861

Mar
1861

Apr
1861

May
1861

Jun
1861

Jul
1861

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Abraham Lincoln elected President
Battle of Manassas
Kentucky voters elect Unionist congressmen
Maryland voters elect Unionist congressmen
Second Wheeling Convention begins process of making WV a separate state
Tennessee secedes
Virginia's voters approve the convention's secession and taxation ordinances
  • North Carolina secedes
  • Kentucky's legislature declares "neutrality"
First Wheeling Convention stalls on WV statehood
Arkansas secedes
Virginia Convention adopts ordinance mandating taxation on full value of slaves
Mass meeting to declare separate statehood for western Virginians
  • Baltimore riot when U.S. troops arrive in the city
  • Virginia troops seize the federal government's military installations at Harpers Ferry and Norfolk over three days
Virginia convention passes the ordinance of secession
  • Proposal to send the question of Virginia's secession to a statewide referendum fails
  • First Secret Session of the Virginia Convention, which continue until May 1
Lincoln calls for 75,000 state troops to put down the rebellion
  • The U.S. Army surrenders Fort Sumter
  • Virginia commissioners meet with Lincoln at the White House
South Carolina Attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina
Virginia Convention sends three official commissioners to meet with Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln notifies South Carolina governor Francis W. Pickens that, U.S. naval ships would reinforce the U.S. garrison at Fort Sumter
  • John Baldwin meets with Lincoln, learns that Lincoln will attempt to supply Ft. Sumter
  • Committee on Foreign Relations reports
  • Virginia convention votes on secession; resolution to secede fails, 90-45
Confederate Constitution ratified by five states, formally adopted by the C.S.A.
Missouri convention rejects secession
Arkansas convention rejects secession
Confederate Constitution ratified by Montgomery convention
  • Lincoln inaugurated president
  • Special Senate Session of the 37th Congress convenes
The Corwin Amendment is passed by the United States Senate with Abraham Lincoln's approval, and is sent to the states for ratification. It proposed to forbid any future amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery within the states.
Congress rejects the Washington Peace Conference compromise
  • North Carolina voters reject a secession convention
  • The Corwin Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is approved by the House of Representatives. It proposed to forbid any future amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery within the states
  • Washington Peace Conference sends compromise proposal to Congress
  • Peace Conference proposes a constitutional amendment similar in substance to the failed Crittenden compromise, extending slavery into the territories south of the Missouri Compromise line. This amendment failed in the Senate and never came to a vote in the House.
Virginia Convention meets in Richmond for the next two months, adjourning on April 16
  • Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederate states
  • Tennessee voters reject a secession convention
Convention adopts provisional Confederate Constitution
  • Seceded states hold convention in Montgomery, AL
  • Peace Conference convenes in Washington, led by John Tyler. Most states are represented, but none from the deep south or Pacific
  • Virginia voters elect convention delegates and require popular referendum on results of the conference
Texas secedes
Kansas becomes a state
Louisiana secedes
  • Georgia secedes
  • Virginia General Assembly calls for national Peace Conference, to meet in Washington February 4
Virginia legislature calls Virginia convention to consider secession
Virginia legislature calls the Washington Peace Conference
Alabama secedes
Florida secedes
  • Mississippi secedes
  • Initial attempts to reinforce the U.S. garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor are repulsed
Virginia legislature convenes
Delaware legislature rejects secession
Crittenden compromise to extend the Missouri Compromise line to Pacific fails
South Carolina secedes