<P> On November 10 , 1860 the S.C. General Assembly called for a `` Convention of the People of South Carolina '' to consider secession . Delegates were to be elected on December 6 . The secession convention convened in Columbia on December 17 and voted unanimously , 169 - 0 , to declare secession from the United States . The convention then adjourned to Charleston to draft an ordinance of secession . When the ordinance was adopted on December 20 , 1860 , South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States . James Buchanan , the United States president , declared the ordinance illegal but did not act to stop it . </P>
<P> On November 10 , 1860 the S.C. General Assembly called for a `` Convention of the People of South Carolina '' to consider secession . Delegates were to be elected on December 6 . The secession convention convened in Columbia on December 17 and voted unanimously , 169 - 0 , to declare secession from the United States . The convention then adjourned to Charleston to draft an ordinance of secession . When the ordinance was adopted on December 20 , 1860 , South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States . James Buchanan , the United States president , declared the ordinance illegal but did not act to stop it . </P>
who was the president when south carolina seceded
who was the president when south carolina seceded
James Buchanan
James Buchanan