The secession movement in Alabama has been studied
in considerable detail, both in a special state monograph
and in various treatments of the secession movement in the
South. Despite the intensive study already devoted to the
movement, there remain many puzzling or even contradictory
pieces of evidence. In order to scrutinize more closely
the actual details of the election for delegates to the
Alabama secession convention, one county is to be the subject of this thesis.
Tuscaloosa County is located in the hill section
of Alabama, bordering on the Black Belt. Since in the convention election of 1860 the Black Belt counties selected Secessionist delegates, while the hill counties selected
delegates opposed to immediate secession, Tuscaloosa County
is a significant borderland wherein detailed analysis may
throw considerable light on the differing attitudes of
Alabamians toward withdrawing from the Union.
