With these amendments to the Constitution, Governor Harris said that he could feel that the rights of the Southern States were reasonably secure, not only in theory, but in fact, and should indulge the hope of living in the Union in peace. “If the non-slaveholding States refuse to comply with a demand so just and reasonable; refuse to abandon at once and forever their unjust war upon us, our institutions, and our rights; refuse, as they have heretofore done to perform, in good faith, the obligations of the compact of the Union, much as we appreciate the power, prosperity, and glory of this government, deeply as we deplore the existence of the causes which have already driven one State out of the Union, much as we regret the imperative necessity which they have wantonly and wickedly forced upon us, every consideration of self-preservation and self-respect requires that we should assert and maintain our equality in the Union, or our independence out of it.”
The message closed with the following recommendation to the Legislature: “I recommend that you provide by law for submitting to the people of the State the question of Convention or No Convention; and also the election of delegates by the people to meet in State Convention at the Capitol at Nashville, at the earliest day practicable, to take into consideration our federal relations, and determine what action shall be taken by the State of Tennessee for the security of the rights and the peace of her citizens. This will place the whole matter in the hands of the people, for them, in their sovereignty, to determine how far their rights have been violated, the character of the redress or guaranty they will demand, or the action they will take for their present and future security.”
The Legislature proceeded without delay to put into effect the recommendations contained in Governor Harris’s message. On January 19th it passed an act known as the Convention Bill,[3] which provided for submitting the question of holding a convention to the vote of the people. The convention was to take into consideration the relation between the government of the United States and the people of the State, and was to have the power to adopt any measures for vindicating the sovereignty of the State and the people it saw fit.
Only a few days intervened between the passage of the Convention Bill and the day appointed for taking the popular vote; nevertheless, an exciting canvass of the State ensued. The people came together in vast crowds to hear the question debated. The Whig leaders were almost unanimous in their opposition. They were joined by the Democrats of East Tennessee. The vote was taken on the fifth of February, 1861. The result was: 24,749 for the Convention; and, 91,803 against it.
This defeat put a stop for the moment to all official action, as the Legislature had adjourned, but the public agitation and discussion continued. The disunion sentiment began to grow very rapidly as a result of events which were transpiring outside the State. Amid the intense excitement which followed the taking of Fort Sumter, Governor Harris issued a call for a second extra session of the Legislature. On the 18th of April he had replied to President Lincoln’s call for troops: “Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion, but fifty thousand, if necessary, for the defence of our rights and those of our Southern brothers.”
The Legislature convened on the twenty-seventh of April. The public were excluded from its meeting, and its members were pledged to secrecy. The session opened with the reading of the gubernatorial message,[4] which asserted that the President of the United States had wantonly inaugurated an internecine war upon the people of the slave States. “This war,” he said, “is likely to assume an importance, nearly, if not equal to the struggle of our revolutionary fathers in their patriotic efforts to resist usurpations and throw off the tyrannical yoke of the British Government.
“This declaration of war upon the South has virtually dissolved the Union. It will be idle to speak of ourselves any longer as members of the Federal Union; and it is believed by many whose opinions are entitled to the highest respect, that, by reason of the subversion of the Constitution by the authorities in power, inaugurating a revolution between the States thereof, each and every individual is already released from his obligations to that government; yet, as best comports with the dignity of the subject, and also from due regard to those who may hold a different opinion—and further still, that all the world may be advised of our action,—I respectfully recommend that our connections with the Federal Union be formally annulled in such manner as shall involve the highest exercise of the sovereign authority of the people of the State and best secure that harmony, so much to be desired, in times like the present, in questions of detail. The speediest method of accomplishing this will be the perfecting of an ordinance by the Legislature formally declaring the independence of the State of Tennessee of the Federal Union, renouncing its authority, and resuming each and every function belonging to a separate sovereignty; and said ordinance when perfected should be submitted to a vote of the people to be by them adopted or rejected. Under existing circumstances I can see no propriety in encumbering the people of the State with the election of delegates, to do that which is in our power to enable them to do directly for themselves. The most direct as well as the highest act of sovereignty, according to our theory, is that by which the people vote, not merely for men, but for measures submitted for their approval or rejection. Since it is only the voice of the people that is to be heard, there is no reason why they may not as readily and effectively express themselves upon an ordinance framed and submitted to them by the Legislature as if submitted by a convention.“
The Legislature was as eager as before to execute the will of the Governor. It embodied his recommendations in an act passed May 6, 1861.[5] This act contained two important provisions. The first was:
“Declaration of Independence and Ordinance dissolving the federal relations between the State of Tennessee and the United States of America.
“We the people of the State of Tennessee, waiving any expression of opinion as to the abstract doctrine of secession, but asserting the right, as a free and independent people, to alter, reform, or abolish our form of government in such manner as we think proper, do ordain and declare, that all the laws and ordinances by which the State of Tennessee became a member of the Federal Union of the United States of America are hereby abrogated and annulled, and that all obligation on our part be withdrawn therefrom; and we do hereby resume all the rights, functions, and powers which by any of said laws and ordinances were conveyed to the Government of the United States, and absolve ourselves from all obligations, restraints, duties, incurred thereto; and do hereby henceforth become a free, sovereign, and independent State.“