On December 24, 1860, the South Carolina legislature issued the Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union. After surveying the history of U.S. governance, including provisions of the U.S. Constitution, the legislature asserted that “encroachments” by the federal government had denied the state its status as a free and independent state. In particular, the legislature cited the issue of slavery, arguing that the states of the North and the federal government had violated the pact of the Constitution by denying Southern slave owners property rights in their slaves. In general terms, South Carolina believed that it was being bullied by the federal government and concluded that the only solution was to dissolve its bond with the United States.