South Carolina College and the origins of secession

South Carolina College was a locus of proslavery, secessionist political thought. The college was created in 1805 to make connections among the planters’ sons and to reduce the geographic sectionalism within the state. The College was at the forefront of nullification, proslavery expansionism and secessionist agitation. Within the state, South Carolina College alumni dominated the legislature, the press and the learned professions. Alumni were preponderant in the antebellum Congressional delegations of South Carolina. Outside the state, alumni who migrated went exclusively to the new states of the lower South: Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Texas and Louisiana. They were disproportionately represented in the Congressional delegations and state-level political offices in their adopted states. The alumni helped propel the lower South toward secession.