Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War

Secession commissioners and anti-abolitionist Southerners used the term “Black Republican” as a pejorative to refer to white Republican politicians who were sympathetic to the anti-slavery movement at the time of Lincoln’s election. Dew quotes commissioners throughout the book who employ the term frequently to antagonize Abraham Lincoln, his supporters, and the North more broadly. By repeatedly characterizing Lincoln’s election as an act of open hostility to the South, the commissioners cast the “Black Republican party” as an open enemy and an aggressor bent on destroying Southern ways of life.

In the South, the Democratic Party advocated forcefully for secession and held a reputation for radicalism. Some prominent pro-slavery Democrats gained the nickname “Fire-Eaters” for their harsh rhetoric and tendency to foment disunionist sentiment. Following Lincoln’s election, some Southern governors named both extremist Democrats and more moderate Whigs as secession commissioners, “clearly attempting to signal that the sectional crisis had obliterated long-standing party loyalties” (23).

Fort Sumter is an offshore fort in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War began in earnest at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 when Confederate forces opened fire on the Union garrison stationed there. Prior to the start of the war, tensions mounted in South Carolina as Union troops moved to occupy Fort Sumter in late December 1860, and South Carolina shot down a relief ship carrying supplies to Union soldiers there on January 9, 1861.