Rethinking the Secession of the Lower South: The Clash of Two Groups

Egnal suggests a new approach to secession and the events leading up to that crisis by contending that the battle over secession in the Lower South was the culmination of a long-standing struggle between two groups-one with strong ties to the Union and one that flourished in relative isolation from the states to the north. The article looks first at the nature of this division and examines the emergence of these two groups in every Deep South state by mid-century, their importance during the 1850s, and finally the role the two sides played in the secession crisis.