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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
A nation-breaking decision, the secession of eleven states from the Union divided not only geographical regions but pitted brother against brother. Here, we observe the actions that tore our country apart and nearly destroyed it forever. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| December 20, 1860 | South Carolina risks all and secedes from the United States. |
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| December 25, 1860 | Late comical plea for South Carolina to not secede. |
| December 27, 1860 | Reporting on South Carolinian militancy; A look at the cost of Secession. |
| January 11, 1861 | Alabama drops the Stars and Stripes. |
| January 18, 1861 | Louisiana elects a heavily-Secessionist delegation for upcoming state convention. |
| January 19, 1861 | Georgia too abandons the Union. |
| February 5, 1861 | Disunionists’ desire for Virginia to secede; different states’ views of secession. |
| February 23, 1861 | The secession argument in a nut shell. |
| February 27, 1861 | Letter from the Louisiana Commissioner calling for Texas to join Louisiana in secession. |
| April 17, 1861 | Virginia disowns Uncle Sam. |
| May 9, 1861 | How a Kentucky Editor Speaks; A southerner’s support of the Union. |
| May 20, 1861 | North Carolina joins the Confederacy. |
| June 1, 1861 | Northerner C.L. Vallandigham supports secession and the Confederacy. |
| June 8, 1861 | Tennessee joins its southern brothers, becoming the final state to do so. |
