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  2. Civil War and Reconstruction (1860-1876)
  3. Secession

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Primary Source: North Carolina Secedes

These excerpts from the ordinances and resolutions passed in May and June 1861 encapsulate North Carolina's secession from the Union and ratification of the Confederate States of America's constitution. 

[No. 1] An ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of North Carolina and the other states united with her under the compact of government entitled the Constitution of the United States.

We, the people of the State of North Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance adopted by the State of North Carolina in the Convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified and adopted, and also, all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly, ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.

We do further declare and ordain, That the union now subsisting between the State of North Carolina and the other States under the title of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of North Carolina is in the full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State. Ratified the 20th day of May, 1861.

[No. 11] An ordinance to ratify the Constitution of the Confederate States of America.

WHEREAS, On the eleventh day of March, A. D., 1861, at Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, a Constitution was adopted by a Congress of delegates from the States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, united under the name of the Confederate States of America, which Constitution hath been ratified by each of the said States:

Now, therefore, this Convention, having seen and considered the said Constitution, doth, in behalf of the people of the State of North Carolina, adopt and ratify the said Constitution and form of Government, the tenor of which appears in a schedule hereto annexed.

Primary Source Citation: 

Ordinances and Resolutions passed by The State Convention of North Carolina. First Session in May and June 1861. Raleigh: John W. Syme, 1862. Published online by Documenting the American South. University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.https://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/ncconven/ncconven.html

 

Credit text

Ordinances and Resolutions Passed by the State Convention of North Carolina. First Session in May and June, 1861 (Raleigh: John W. Syme, Printer to the Convention, 1862). - Original Source

Artifacts

The state flag of North Carolina adopted following secession from the United States in 1861 consists of a red field at left and, at right, a blue bar above a white bar. The red field contains a single white star with the dates, in white, May 20th 1775 (the date of the Mecklenburg Resolves) and May 20th 1861 (the date of secession). It was replaced by the current state flag in 1885.

North Carolina adopted a new state flag in 1861, following secession. The two dates represent the signing of the Mecklenburg Resolves and North Carolina's date of secession. It was replaced by the current state flag in 1885.

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