The reputations of John Calhoun as “the father of secessionism” and of South Carolina as its birthplace are undeserved.

In the popular mythology, Andrew Jackson defeats the rebels in the nullification crisis of 1832, Calhoun resigns as Jackson’s vice president and is elected to the Senate from South Carolina and spends the rest of his career developing the doctrine and philosophy of states’ rights, the followers of Calhoun’s philosophy call for a convention in 1850 that threatens to lead to Southern secession, the crisis is averted by the Compromise of 1850, but the Calhoun-South Carolina position remains intact and leads to secession and the Civil War in 1861, with South Carolina the first state to secede.

The idea of secession − which is only another word for “withdrawal” − was far older than John Calhoun. There is a direct line back from his 1832 nullification speeches to the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, which were largely the work of Jefferson and Madison. The idea was very much alive during the first years of the United States, when it was difficult to get the First Continental Congress into session because any state felt it had the right not to attend until it was good and ready to debate and vote. The debates over the U.S. Constitution, as the Federalist Papers show, were full of secessionist philosophies.

The greatest secession movement in the history of the United States was not at the time of the Civil War, but in the Revolutionary War, when the 13 colonies “seceded” from the British Empire. Outspoken patriots such as John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, and thoughtful patriots such as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington, were the first successful secessionists.

They had all read their John Locke, who had said that it was the right of any man, or any minority group of people, to leave in peace when they could not conscientiously concur with the will of the majority. The Pilgrims had pointed the way, by leaving England for America, and with so much New Land available, it seemed only natural for Americans to move out and on when they could not reach agreement. And move they did, usually westward.

Calhoun and South Carolina, seen in that context, can hardly be labeled reactionary or rebellious. The South never did see the Civil War as a War of Rebellion, as it was called in the Union states.

If anyone deserves the infamy of being “the Father of Secession,” my candidate for the title is Aaron Burr. Disappointed by having lost the presidency in 1800 (an election that was a tie in the electoral college and that was decided by voting in the House of Representatives), Burr was further discredited when, while vice president, he killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804.

In his last months as vice president, he conspired with General James Wilkinson, head of the army, to create a secession movement in the western states. He even got as far as New Orleans, but the plot had been exposed, and Burr fled through Mississippi and Alabama Territory to sanctuary with his son-in-law in Georgia and South Carolina. Brought to trial, he was released on the grounds that plotting against the government was not treason until some actual act to overthrow the government is committed. Chief Justice John Marshall saved Burr’s hide by developing that defense argument.

But the instincts to secede are very strong in American people. Only the forms change. There are other ways to secede than through Civil War. New England virtually seceded during both the War of 1812 and the Mexican War by withholding men and arms from those conflicts. During Vietnam days, many Americans stuck pro-secession bumper stickers on their cars that read, “Love It, Or Leave It,” and then were outraged that so many people did.

Hardly any institution in our society today, according to polls, enjoys the confidence of the American people − not the presidency, not the Congress, nor the church, nor the schools, nor the military. Is that not a form of secession?

How often do more than half the registered voters in our country turn out for any election? They withdraw, or secede, from the election process. How many high-income people avoid paying any income tax? Are tax loopholes a modern form of secession? And where have all the parents who used to show up at PTA meetings gone?

Have we, by delegating our citizen-duties to experts and representatives, seceded from contributing to city, county, country, church, classroom, or consumer communities?

Larry McGehee, Wofford College professor-emeritus, may be reached by e-mail at mcgeheelt@wofford.edu .

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