Why Did The South Want To Secede

Secede means to leave or withdraw from the union. During the mid 1850s the south wanted to secede from the union. Southern states wanted to secede from the union because President Lincoln was elected, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published, and because slavery was the basis of their community. First the south wanted to leave the union because President Lincoln was elected. In document 5 it says “Free Speech, Free Homes, Free Territory”. This is saying that everyone should be free therefore slavery should be abolished. This scared the south because with him as president they believed that he would try to abolish slavery now that he had the power to. Since the South didn’t want to lose slavery they left the union. Secondly the south wanted to leave the union because Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published. In document 4 it states “She wrote this book to show that slavery was evil and that the Fugitive Slave Law was unjust. This would convince or show how evil and wrong slavery is and more people would want to abolish slavery. If they didn’t secede they would lose slavery. So to stop people in the South to be convinced that slavery is wrong the South left the union.

In document 3 it says “ The South thus quickly established a rural way of life supported by an agricultural economy based on slave labor.” So if the South lost slavery their economy would fall and the south would be very very poor. So therefore the Southern states left the union because they didn’t want to be poor. In conclusion the Southern states wanted to secede from the union because President Lincoln was elected, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published, and because slavery was the basis of their community. They were feared that Lincoln would abolish slavery. They didn’t want Southerners to be convinced that slavery is evil. Also they didn’t want to be