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Article: Secession
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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SECESSION
SECESSION
in American history is best defined as the removal of a political entity from the federal Union. It is closely related to, but not synonymous with, nullification; it can only be understood in contrast with Unionism.
The precedent for secession had, in the eyes of its advocates, been established with the American Revolution (1775
–
1783). Thus the possibility of secession from the federal Union was broached almost as soon as that union was formed. In 1790, faced with the economic threat of Alexander Hamilton's proposal for an assumption of debts, the Virginia legislature warned that it might be necessary at some future point to sunder ties. In 1798 and 1799 the ...