Mississippi Secession Convention

{{Short description|Process for Mississippi's secession}}

File:An address - setting forth the declaration of the immediate causes which induce and justify the secession of Mississippi from the Federal Union and the ordinance of secession (IA addresssettingfo01miss).pdf

The Mississippi Secession Convention was held in Mississippi and established its withdrawal from the United States after the election of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln in order to become part of the Confederate States seeking to preserve slavery. The convention was held January 7–26, 1861.{{Cite web|url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/missconv/missconv.html|title=Mississippi. Convention (1861). Proceedings of the Mississippi State Convention, Held January 7th to 26th, A. D. 1861. Including the Ordinances, as Finally Adopted, Important Speeches, and a List of Members, Showing the Postoffice, Profession, Nativity, Politics, Age, Religious Preference, and Social Relations of Each.|website=docsouth.unc.edu}} On January 9, 1861, Mississippi seceded from the United States, the second state to do so. Conventioneers reported: "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery - the greatest material interest of the world."{{cite journal |title=Journal of the State Convention and Ordinances and Resolutions adopted in January 1861 |date=1861 |url=https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/app/uploads/2020/11/Mississippi-Secession-p86-88.pdf |access-date=26 July 2023}}{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/video/mississippi-thread-through-time-secession/ | title=Mississippi: A Thread Through Time | Secession | website=PBS }} The convention was held in the Mississippi House of Representatives building in the state capitol, Jackson, Mississippi.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/ms-secession.htm|title=Mississippi Secession (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov}}

J. L. Power was the convention reporter. Power & Cadwallader printed an account of the proceedings. The New York Times reported on the convention's plans to secede.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1861/01/09/archives/the-mississippi-convention-the-state-to-secede-immediately.html|title=THE MISSISSIPPI CONVENTION.; THE STATE TO SECEDE IMMEDIATELY.|work=The New York Times |date=January 9, 1861|via=NYTimes.com}}

The Mississippi Secession Ordinance was signed January 15, 1861.{{Cite web|url=https://da.mdah.ms.gov/series/generalgov/s0475/detail/532762|title=74386-1.tif - Ordinance of Secession, 1861|website=MS Digital Archives}}

Timothy B. Smith wrote a book published in 2014 on the convention.{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26468065 | jstor=26468065 | last1=Semmes | first1=Ryan P. | title=Reviewed work: The Mississippi Secession Convention: Delegates and Deliberations in Politics and War, 1861-1865, Smith Timothy B | journal=The Mississippi Quarterly | year=2016 | volume=69 | issue=1 | pages=129–131 | doi=10.1353/mss.2016.0030 | s2cid=158943214 | url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book|url=https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/T/The-Mississippi-Secession-Convention|title=The Mississippi Secession Convention|via=www.upress.state.ms.us}}