“C” is for Cooperationists

“C” is for Cooperationists. Cooperationists believed that slavery could ultimately be preserved only through disunion, but they differed with radical secessionists over the feasibility of South Carolina seceding alone. During the secession crisis of 1850 to 1851 the state was divided into three political factions: unionists who opposed secession outright; secessionists who wanted South Carolina to secede regardless of whether other states joined her or not; and the cooperationists. Cooperationists invoked the experience of nullification, when the state was without a single ally in an impending armed confrontation with the federal government. The scheduled October 1851 election for delegates to the now chimerical Southern Congress became a referendum on separate secession. The Cooperationists triumphed, collecting 58.8% of the votes cast and carrying all but one of the state’s congressional districts. The Cooperationists’ victory postponed South Carolina’s secession for almost a decade.