TEXAS
AN ORDINANCE TO DISSOLVE THE UNION BETWEEN THE STATE OF TEXAS AND THE OTHER STATES UNDER THE, COMPACT STYLED THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
WHEREAS, The Federal Government has failed to accomplish the purposes of the compact of union between these States, in giving protection either to the persons of our people upon an exposed frontier, or to the property of our citizenship and
WHEREAS, The action of the Northern States in violative of the compact between the States and the guarantees of the Constitution; and,
WHEREAS, The recent developments in Federal affairs make it evident that the power of the Federal Government is sought to be made a weapon with which to strike down the interests of the people of Texas, and her sister Slaveholding States, instead of permitting it to be, as was intended, our shield against outrage and aggression,
THEREFORE, We, the people of the State of Texas, by delegates in convention assembled, do declare and ordain that the ordinance adopted by our convention of delegates on the fourth (4th) day of July, A.D. 1845, and afterward ratified by us under which the Republic of Texas was admitted into the Union with other States, and became a party to the compact styled "The Constitution of the United States of America' be, and is hereby, repealed and annulled.
That all the powers which, by the said compact, were delegated by Texas to the Federal Government are resumed. That Texas in of right absolved from all restraints and obligations incurred by said compact, and is a separate sovereigns State, and that her citizens and people are absolved from all allegiance to the United States or the government thereof.
SECTION 2. The ordinance shall be submitted to the people of Texas for their ratification or rejection, by the qualified voters, on the 23rd day of February, 1861, and unless rejected, by a majority of the votes cast, shall take effect and be in force on and after the 2nd day of March A.D., 1861; PROVIDED, That in the Representative District of El Paso said election may be held on the 18th day of February, 1861.
Done by the people of the State of Texas, in convention assembled, at Austin, the last day of February, A.D. 1861.
Vote of Convention 166-8.
FEBRUARY 1, 1861.
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Arkansas
AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union now existing between the State of Arkansas
and the other States united with her under the compact entitled "The
Constitution of the United States of America."
Whereas, in addition to the well-founded causes of complaint set forth by
this convention, in resolutions adopted on the 11th of March, A.D. 1861, against
the sectional party now in power in Washington City, headed by Abraham Lincoln,
he has, in the face of resolutions passed by this convention pledging the State
of Arkansas to resist to the last extremity any attempt on the part of such
power to coerce any State that had seceded from the old Union, proclaimed to the
world that war should be waged against such States until they should be
compelled to submit to their rule, and large forces to accomplish this have by
this same power been called out, and are now being marshaled to carry out this
inhuman design; and to longer submit to such rule, or remain in the old Union of
the United States, would be disgraceful and ruinous to the State of Arkansas:
Therefore we, the people of the State of Arkansas, in convention assembled,
do hereby declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the
"ordinance and acceptance of compact" passed and approved by the General
Assembly of the State of Arkansas on the 18th day of October, A.D. 1836, whereby
it was by said General Assembly ordained that by virtue of the authority vested
in said General Assembly by the provisions of the ordinance adopted by the
convention of delegates assembled at Little Rock for the purpose of forming a
constitution and system of government for said State, the propositions set forth
in "An act supplementary to an act entitled 'An act for the admission of the
State of Arkansas into the Union, and to provide for the due execution of the
laws of the United States within the same, and for other purposes,'" were freely
accepted, ratified, and irrevocably confirmed, articles of compact and union
between the State of Arkansas and the United States, and all other laws and
every other law and ordinance, whereby the State of Arkansas became a member of
the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, in all respects and for every
purpose herewith consistent, repealed, abrogated, and fully set aside; and the
union now subsisting between the State of Arkansas and the other States, under
the name of the United States of America, is hereby forever dissolved.
And we do further hereby declare and ordain, That the State of Arkansas
hereby resumes to herself all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the
Government of the United States of America; that her citizens are absolved from
all allegiance to said Government of the United States, and that she is in full
possession and exercise of all the rights and sovereignty which appertain to a
free and independent State.
We do further ordain and declare, That all rights acquired and vested under
the Constitution of the United States of America, or of any act or acts of
Congress, or treaty, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with
this ordinance, shall remain in full force and effect, in nowise altered or
impaired, and have the same effect as if this ordinance had not been passed.
Adopted and passed in open convention on the 6th day of May, A.D. 1861.
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Tennessee
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND ORDINANCE dissolving the federal relations
between the State of Tennessee and the United States of America.
First. We, the people of the State of Tennessee, waiving any expression of
opinion as to the abstract doctrine of secession, but asserting the right, as a
free and independent people, to alter, reform, or abolish our form of government
in such manner as we think proper, do ordain and declare that all the laws and
ordinances by which the State of Tennessee became a member of the Federal Union
of the United States of America are hereby abrogated and annulled, and that all
the rights, functions, and powers which by any of said laws and ordinances were
conveyed to the Government of the United States, and to absolve ourselves from
all the obligations, restraints, and duties incurred thereto; and do hereby
henceforth become a free, sovereign, and independent State.
Second. We furthermore declare and ordain that article 10, sections 1 and 2,
of the constitution of the State of Tennessee, which requires members of the
General Assembly and all officers, civil and military, to take an oath to
support the Constitution of the United States be, and the same are hereby,
abrogated and annulled, and all parts of the constitution of the State of
Tennessee making citizenship of the United States a qualification for office and
recognizing the Constitution of the United States as the supreme law of this
State are in like manner abrogated and annulled.
Third. We furthermore ordain and declare that all rights acquired and vested
under the Constitution of the United States, or under any act of Congress passed
in pursuance thereof, or under any laws of this State, and not incompatible with
this ordinance, shall remain in force and have the same effect as if this
ordinance had not been passed.
[sent to referendum 6 May 1861 by the legislature, and approved by the voters by a vote of 104,471 to 47,183 on 8 June 1861]
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