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Editors
Tag Archives: Secession
The Ordinance of Secession Coverage From the Richmond Times-Dispatch
18 April 2011
Check out this video of our own Tom Camden, Special Collections Director, discussing a rarely seen copy of the Ordinance of Secession at the Library of Virginia. It’s provided courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Virginia Signs Off
13 April 2011
(Note: Guest contributor Mari Julienne joins us this week with some timely background information on a pivotal document in the state’s history. Virginia’s signed Ordinance of Secession will be on display at the Library of Virginia on Saturday, 16 April 2011. See our schedule for other events related to the Library’s exhibition, Union or Secession: Virginians Decide.)
17 April 1861. While meeting in secret session, the Virginia Convention took a vote on whether to secede from the United States. Two weeks earlier, on 4 April, the convention delegates rejected a resolution to secede by a vote of 90 to 45. The convention, which was called to consider Virginia’s response to the secession crisis, had been meeting in Richmond since 13 February. The delegates had spent many weeks debating whether secession was legal, wise, or in the state’s best interest. Following the surrender of Fort Sumter on 13 April and President Abraham Lincoln’s call for troops on 15 April, the question facing the delegates became which side to take: to fight with or against the new Confederate States of America. Late in the afternoon on 17 April, the convention chose the Confederacy and voted 88 to 55 to submit an ordinance of secession to the voters in a referendum. On 23 May, Virginia voters approved the Ordinance of Secession, which repealed Virginia’s 1788 ratification of the Constitution of the United States and its subsequent amendments.
While working on the Library’s Union or Secession exhibition (on display in our gallery until 29 October 2011), I learned that not one, but three parchments of the Ordinance of Secession were created after the 17 April vote. The most well known is the parchment elegantly penned by William Flegenheimer in May 1861. It has been in the Library’s records of the… read more »
Posted in Civil War-Related Posts
Also tagged in: Civil War, Ordinance of Secession, Union or Secession
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Also tagged in: Civil War, Ordinance of Secession, Union or Secession
1 Comment
The secession crisis: A Frenchman’s view of the “whirlwind”
19 January 2011
“The indecision and the absence of energy in the convention of Virginia which does not dare proclaim itself either for or against secession have ended by making the situation intolerable for everyone,” wrote Alfred Paul, the French consul in Richmond, in March 1861. “This lack of spontaneity after the inauguration of the new administration destroys the sympathies of the two sections, North and South, toward Virginia.” Paul closed his report of 9 March thusly: “all that the convention has done up to the present can be summed up in three words or in a single word: nothing, nothing, nothing.”
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the secession crisis and the commencement of the Civil War. Among The Library of Virginia’s many collections concerning secession and the war is the Alfred Paul Reports, 8 December 1860-9 March 1861 (Accession 22992). Paul proved to be a keen observer of events in Virginia during the… read more »
Posted in Civil War-Related Posts, Uncategorized
Also tagged in: Alfred Paul, Civil War, Franco-American relations
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Also tagged in: Alfred Paul, Civil War, Franco-American relations
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Have scanner, will travel
1 December 2010
As you may have heard from this blog and other sources, the CW 150 Legacy Project: Document Digitization and Access is an effort to locate Civil War-era materials held by private citizens, digitize them, and place them online. It is a joint project between the Library of Virginia (LVA) and the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission.
Now that the project is underway, the motto “Have Scanner, Will Travel” aptly applies to my colleague Renee Savits and me. We are the CW 150 Legacy Project archivists, often seen in the LVA building rolling large plastic travel boxes containing our scanners, loading up our vehicle for the latest event. Renee is responsible for the project’s Eastern Region, and I am responsible for the Western Region.
In September, Renee and I hit the road, beginning what will be nearly two years of traveling across the commonwealth in search of these materials. We knew people would be interested in the project, but the level of interest we are encountering is beyond our expectations. At most of our events, all appointment slots are filled. We meet wonderful people who are excited to have the opportunity to share their items with us. A story about the project in the Washington Post in November generated even more interest.
A typical scanning event is scheduled through a given locality’s Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee, which is responsible for securing the location for the event, publicizing the event, and setting appointments. On the day of the event, Renee or I will arrive with another member of the LVA staff to set up the equipment, prepare the necessary paperwork, meet with people, and begin the scanning process. The amount of time we spend in a locality varies, from one to two days, depending on what the local committee feels… read more »
