—Early this afternoon the palmetto flag was raised over the Custom House and Post Office at Charleston; and to-night Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie have been taken possession of by the South Carolina military. These forts are held under instructions from Governor Pickens, who authorizes their peaceable possession, for the protection of the government property. [...]
—A meeting of the citizens of Pittsburgh, Pa., was held, to give expression to the public indignation created by the removal of ordnance to the Southern forts. General William Robinson presided. Resolutions were adopted, declaring loyalty to the Union, deprecating any interference with the shipment of arms under government orders, however inopportune or impolitic the [...]
—Fort Moultrie was evacuated tonight. Previous to the evacuation, the guns were spiked and the carriages destroyed by fire. The troops have all been conveyed to Fort Sumter. Major Anderson states that he evacuated the fort in order to allay the discussion about that post, and at the same time strengthen his own position.—(Doc. 7.) [...]
—The dispatches from Pittsburgh, that the arms in the arsenal there would not be allowed to be shipped, made a great sensation at Washington. The story was greatly enlarged. Northern men, including members of Congress, have telegraphed to the people to stand firm, and not allow the arsenals to be stripped of all arms.
—Governor Pickens, agreeably to the ordinance of secession, issued a proclamation, proclaiming South Carolina a separate, sovereign, free, and independent State, with the right to levy war, conclude peace, negotiate treaties, leagues, or covenants, and do all acts whatever that rightly appertain to a free and independent State.—Herald, Jan. 1, 1861. —A mass meeting was [...]
Letter of South Carolina Congressmen to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Sir: We avail ourselves of the earliest opportunity since the official communication of the intelligence, of making known to your honorable body that the people of the State of South Carolina, in their sovereign capacity, have resumed the powers heretofore delegated by [...]
—This evening, Senator Toombs, of Georgia, assuming that there is no hope of compromise, telegraphed from Washington an address to the people of that State—(Doc. 5.) —At Petersburg, Va., a secession pole, one hundred feet high, erected yesterday on the most prominent street, amid the cheers from a large crowd, and bearing the palmetto flag, [...]
Toombs’ telegraphic address to the people of Georgia, Dec. 23, 1860. I came here to secure your constitutional rights, and to demonstrate to you that you can get no guarantee for those rights from your Northern confederates. The whole subject was referred to a Committee of Thirteen in the Senate. I was appointed on the [...]
—Senator Andrew Johnson was burned in effigy at Memphis, Tenn., to-day. —There was a secession meeting in Ashland Hall, in Norfolk, Va. Disunion speeches were delivered by Colonel V. D. Grover and General John Tyler. The speeches were enthusiastically applauded.—N. Y. Times, Dec. 23. —Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, made a speech this evening to the [...]
—At New Orleans a general demonstration of joy over the secession of South Carolina was made. One hundred guns were fired, and the pelican flag unfurled. Impromptu secession speeches were made by leading citizens, and the “Marseillais Hymn” and polkas were the only airs played. A bust of Calhoun was exhibited decorated with a cockade. [...]
Dec. 20.—The news from Charleston is very unfavorable this morning. —“Civil war is imminent—peace is impossible,” are the utterances which meet the ear on every side. There is here no longer any more hope of peace than of compromise, say the people. The speeches from northwestern representatives have taken us by surprise. Such flaming tirades [...]
—A meeting of members of the Georgia Legislature, favoring cooperation, was held at Milledgeville. A convention of Southern States desiring cooperation was urged, and an address to the people of South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, was issued.—Tribune, Dec. 20. —A bill has been introduced into the Legislature of North Carolina, providing that —“No ordinance [...]
—The bill for arming the State of South Carolina passed the Senate, after considerable debate, by a vote of forty-one to three. The Commissioners from Alabama and Mississippi have arrived at Raleigh.—Herald, Dec. 19. —Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, offered a resolution in the Senate for certain amendments to the Constitution, which would practically reestablish the [...]
—The South Carolina Convention met this day at Columbia, the capital of the State, General D. F. Jamieson in the chair, and passed a resolution to adjourn to Charleston, in consequence of the prevalence of the small-pox at Columbia, which was declared epidemic.
On November 13, 1860, U.S. Senator Robert Toombs gave a speech related to States’ rights (though that specific phrase was not used) to the Legislature of Georgia on “the present state of the country and the prospect before us.” For those interested, the complete speech is available. Excerpts from speech: _____ We have not sought [...]