ARIZONA ORDINANCE OF SECESSION
Passed by the
People of Arizona in Convention Assembled at La Mesilla, Arizona Territory, March 16, 1861
WHEREAS, a sectional party of the North has disregarded the
Constitution of the United States, violated the rights of the Southern States, and heaped wrongs and indignities upon their
people; and
WHEREAS, the Government of the United States has heretofore
failed to give us adequate protection against the savages within our midst and has denied us an administration of the laws,
and that security for life, liberty, and property which is due from all governments to the people; and
WHEREAS, it is an inherent, inalienable right in all people
to modify, alter, or
abolish their form of government whenever it fails in the legitimate objects of
its institution,
or when it is subversive thereof; and
WHEREAS, in a government of federated, sovereign States, each
State has a right to withdraw from the confederacy whenever the treaty by which the league is formed, is broken; and
WHEREAS, the Territories belonging to said league in common
should be divided when the league is broken, and should be attached to the separating States according to their geographical
position and political identity; and
WHEREAS, Arizona naturally belongs to the Confederate States
of America (who have rightfully and lawfully withdrawn from said league), both geographically and politically, by ties of
a common interest and a common cause; and
WHEREAS we, the citizens of that part of New Mexico called
Arizona, in the present distracted state of political affairs between the North and the South, deem it our duty as citizens
of the United States to make known our opinions and intentions; therefore be it...
RESOLVED, That our feelings and interests are with the Southern
States , and that although we deplore the division of the Union, yet we cordially indorse the course pursued by the seceded
Southern States.
RESOLVED, That geographically and naturally we are bound to
the South, and to her we look for protection; and as the Southern States have formed a
Confederacy, it is our earnest
desire to be attached to that Confederacy as a
Territory.
RESOLVED, That we do not desire to be attached as a Territory
to any State seceding separately from the Union, but to and under the protection of a
Confederacy of the Southern States.
RESOLVED, That the recent enactment of the Federal Congress,
removing the mail service from the Atlantic to the Pacific States from the Southern to the Central or Northern route, is another
powerful reason for us to ask the Southern Confederate States of America for a continuation of the postal service over the
Butterfield or El Paso route, at the earliest period.
RESOLVED, That it shall be the duty of the President of this
Convention to order an election for a delegate to the Congress of the Confederate States of America, when he is informed that
the States composing said Confederacy have ordered an election for members of Congress.
RESOLVED, That we will not recognize the present Black Republican
Administration, and that we will resist any officers appointed to this Territory
by said Administration with whatever
means in our power.
RESOLVED, That the citizens residing in the western portion
of this Territory are invited to join us in this movement.
RESOLVED, That the proceedings of this Convention be published
in the Mesilla Times, and that a copy thereof be forwarded to the President of the Congress of the Confederate States
of America, with the request that the same be laid before Congress."
