Ordinance of Secession of Arkansas

Ordinance of Secession of Arkansas
(Passed in the State Capitol at Little Rock on 06 May 1861, by a vote of 69-1.)

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 11^th 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 18^th 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a member of the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, in all respects and for every purpose herewith consistent, repealed, abrogated, and fully set aside; and the union now subsisting between the State of Arkansas and the other States, under the name of the United States of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 6^th day of May, A.D. 1861.

Arkansas Secession Convention Delegates (A ↓ denotes a Delegate who voted in opposition to the Ordinance of Secession. To assist with completing full names, please e-mail the Historian.)
ARKANSAS	MADISON
James L. Totten	Henry Hunter Bolinger Isaac Murphy↓
ASHLEY	MARION
Marcus Lafayette Hawkins	Thomas Fletcher Austin
BENTON	MISSISSIPPI
Alexander Winchester Dinsmore Haley Jackson	Felix R. Lanier
BRADLEY	MONROE
Josiah Gould	William Montgomery Mayo
CALHOUN	MONTGOMERY
Philip Henry Echols	Alexander Michael Clingman
CARROLL	NEWTON
Burr Hamilton Hobbs William Wirt Watkins	Isaiah Dodson
CHICOT	OUACHITA
Isaac Henry Hilliard	Anson W. Hobson
CLARK	PERRY
Harris Flanagin	Levin D. Hill
COLUMBIA	PHILLIPS
George Parker Smoote Isaiah Christian Wallace	Charles W. Adams Thomas Burton Hanly
CONWAY	PIKE
Samuel James Stallings	Samuel Kelley
CRAWFORD	POINSETT
Hugh French Thomason Jesse Turner	H.W. Williams
CRITTENDEN	POLK
Thomas H. Bradley	Archibald Ray
DALLAS	POPE
Robert Thomas Fuller	William Stout
DESHA	PRAIRIE
Jilson Payne Johnson	Benjamin Clinton Totten
DREW	PULASKI
Joel A. Rhodes William Ferguson Slemons	Augustus Hill Garland Joseph Stillwell
FRANKLIN	RANDOLPH
William Washington Mansfield	James W. Crenshaw
FULTON	ST. FRANCIS
Samuel Wharton Cochran	George W. Laughinghouse J.W. Shelton
GREENE	SALINE
J.W. Bush	Jabez Mitchell Smith
HEMPSTEAD	SCOTT
Alfred Holt Carrigan Rufus King Garland, Jr.	W.T. Walker
HOT SPRING	SEARCY
Joseph Jester	John Campbell
INDEPENDENCE	SEBASTIAN
Franklin Wharton Desha Urban Elias Fort Michael Shelby Kennard	William Meade Fishback Samuel Lewis Griffith
IZARD	SEVIER
Alexander Hamilton Adams	James Samples Dollarhide Benjamin S. Hawkins
JACKSON	UNION
J.H. Patterson	Hezekiah Bussey III William Vardeman Tatum
JEFFERSON	VAN BUREN
William Porter Grace James Yell	James Henry Patterson
JOHNSON	WASHINGTON
Felix Ives Batson William B. Floyd	Thomas Montague Gunter John Perry Aaron Parks James H. Stirman David Walker
LAFAYETTE	WHITE
Wiley Powell Cryer	Jesse Newton Cypert
LAWRENCE	YELL
Milton Dyer Baber Samuel Robinson	William H. Spivey