The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-03-29
HOW THE STATES Seeded.
The Ordinances Passed in Most Gases by
Big A1ajorites.
Richmond Times.

II Times.
that date. When the vote Of the peo-
pie was taken in Texas it stood for
secession, 34,794 against II ,235, or
rather more than three to one in its
favor. Those who opposed secession
in Texas were led by it's then Governor,
Samuel Houston, and claimed not to
be opposed to secession itself, but to
be in favor Of Texas becoming an in
dependent republic as it had been be-
fore annexation to the United States.
In word, that Texas was to have
rothing to do with either the Confed-
crate States or the United States.
The question there then was between
the Confederate States party and the
advocates Of an independent republic
for Texas, and the Confederate States
party, as we have seen, won by very
large majority, and Texas joined the
Confederacy.
yIRGINIAs S ACTION.
The next State to secede was Fir-
ginia. After all efforts for peace had
failed, after the action Of the "Pcace
Conference which she had declared
herself willing to accept, had been
completely ignored by the North, the
Virginia convention passed April II,
1861, an ordinance of secession by a
vote Of So to 55, there being one mem
Der who asked to be excused from
voting, and eight absent; all Of these
latter afterwards asking to have their
votes recorded in it's favor. OF the 55
members of the convention who voted
against secession the majority Of them
(32) were from what is now West Vir-
ginia. And among the twenty-three
who were from what now constitutes
Virginia were no less personages than
Gen. Jubal A. Early and William c..
Wickham, both Of whom were after
wards among the stanchest Confede-
rates. Again, when the time came
for the signing Of the Virginia ordi-
nance, Of the original l52 delegates
to the convention 129 signed it and %
refused, including the one who had
asked to be excused from voting. OF
the twenty-three who failed to sign,
only one was from the State Of Vir-
ginia, as now constituted, the remain
der being from what is now West Vir-
ginia. But though majority Of the
West Virginia members did not vote
for secession, a majority of them did
sign the ordinance after it was passed.
For what is now West Virginia had ~
delegates in that convention: Of whom
% signed it. Besides these, when
some Of these delegates from West
Virginia, who had voted against the
ordinance, left the convention, and
went where they began to take steps
looking to division Of the State,
they were expelled by the convention,
and their places filled by others, who
signed the ordinance. So that in all
there are really 143 names attached
to it.
On May %, 1861, the Virginia ordi-
nance Of secession was submitted to g
direct vote Of the people Of the State
including, Of course, what is now
West Virginia-and ratified by a ma
jority of 81, 900, the present State Of
Virginia being well-nigh unanimous
for it, and there was even strong
vote in its favor in West Virginia,
many Of the counties there going for
it. Arkansas followed Virginia, Sc
ceding in May 6, 1861. That State
had elected convention long before,
which was pretty evenly divided be-
tween Immediate secession and CO.
operation, and as a result the conven-
tion had decided to submit the ques-
ton as between the two to the popular
vote on August 1, 1861, and had then
adjourned, subject to the call OF its
president, in case developments justi-
fed it. After the passage of the Vir-
ginia ordinance the Arkansas conven-
tion again met, and then, as has been
stated, passed an ordinance Of seces-
sion May 6, 1861, the vote being 81 in
it's favor to l against.
North Carolina was the next State
to secede and join the Confederacy,
which it did on May 20, 1861. The
people there the preceding February,
when there was still prospect for
peace, had by very close vote voted
down the call for convention, the
majority against it in the State being
only 1876. But after all prospect for
peace had vanished there was tre-