States, right of secession of
In 1810 a proposition was made to erect the
Orleans Territory into a State.
It was warmly opposed, especially by the Federalists of
New England.
Early in 1811 a bill for that purpose was introduced into Congress, when
Josiah Quincy of
Massachusetts, in a speech of much power, expressed his deliberate opinion that such a measure would be a flagrant disregard of the
Constitution, and would be a virtual dissolution of the bonds of the
Union, freeing the States composing it from their moral obligation of adhesion to each other, and making it the right of all, as it would become the duty of some, to prepare definitely for separation— “amicably if they might, forcibly if they must!”
This declaration—the first announcement on the floor of Congress of the doctrine of secession—produced a call to order from a delegate from
Mississippi (
Poindexter), who said no member of the
House ought to be allowed to stimulate any portion of the people to insurrection and a dissolution of the
Union.
The speaker (
Varnum) decided that the suggestion of the right
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to dissolve the
Union was out of order.
The decision was reversed.
Jealousy of the new States to be formed in the
West, and the results of the census for 1810, which threatened the curtailment of the political weight of
New England, was a powerful stimulant to the opposition to the erection of a new State on the
Mississippi.
