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Primary sourceSpeech18-19 December 1860

Speech on Secession in the U.S. Senate

Andrew Johnson · 18-19 December 1860

Andrew Johnson's December 1860 Senate speech denouncing secession as treason, which made him the leading Southern Unionist voice.

Johnson delivered this speech himself, cementing his reputation as a leading Southern opponent of secession.

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Scanned title page and first page of a printed pamphlet titled 'The Constitutionality and Rightfulness of Secession', Speech of Hon. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee in the Senate, December 18 and 19, 1860. Two columns of small printed text, aged yellowed paper.
Andrew Johnson, Speech on Secession in the U.S. Senate, December 18-19, 1860. Library of Congress.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed pamphlet of a speech Andrew Johnson, then a Senator from Tennessee, delivered in the U.S. Senate on December 18 and 19, 1860, titled regarding the constitutionality and rightfulness of secession. It is held by the Library of Congress.

Why it matters

Delivered just as Southern states were preparing to leave the Union, this speech argued against secession and helped establish Johnson as the most prominent Southern Unionist politician of his time. It shows why Abraham Lincoln later chose him as a running mate, despite Johnson being a slaveholding Southerner.

Look closer

  • Why might a senator from a slaveholding state have opposed secession?
  • What does the pamphlet's printed, two-column format suggest about how speeches circulated in 1860?
  • What political risks might Johnson have taken by speaking out this way?

This speech is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Andrew Johnson on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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