---Prof. Charles P. Roland
Abraham Lincoln was not even on the ballot in Louisiana when he won the 1860 Presidential election. Louisiana newspapers immediately began printing stories that this event was intolerable, and would lead to the destruction of southern states. Ministers preached this same message from their pulpits.
The majority of white Louisiana seemed divided into three camps: those who wanted immediate secession; those who wished to wait and see what would happen; and those who first wished to consult with other slave holding states. Unionists were in the minority. Louisiana's Governor Moore called for an election of delegates to a special convention to decide upon the question of secession. They met in the old capitol building in Baton Rouge.
Signing the Ordinance of Secession of Louisiana. Perry, Jr., Enoch Wood. Courtesy Louisiana State Museum.
