Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/118286
The institutional determinants of southern secession
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We use the Southern secession movement of 1860-1861 to study how elites in democracy enact their preferred policies. Most states used specially convened conventions to determine whether or not to secede from the Union. We argue that although the delegates of these conventions were popularly elected, the electoral rules favored slaveholders. Using an original dataset of representation in each convention, we first demonstrate that slave-intensive districts were systematically overrepresented. Slave-holders were also spatially concentrated and could thereby obtain local pluralities in favor of secession more easily. As a result of these electoral biases, less than 10% of the electorate was sufficient to elect a majority of delegates in four of the six original Confederate states. We also show how delegates representing slave-intensive counties were more likely to support secession. These factors explain the disproportionate influence of slaveholders during the crisis and why secessionists strategically chose conventions over statewide referenda.
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CHACÓN, Mario and JENSEN, Jeffrey. The institutional determinants of southern secession. IEB Working Paper 2017/16. [consulted: 17 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/118286