Ordinance of Secession, 1861.
This document is a one-page handwritten copy of the Ordinance of Secession passed on January 10, 1861, by the members of the Florida Convention of the People (commonly referred to as the Secession Convention). Pursuant to an act of the Florida legislature approved on November 30, 1860, Governor Madison S. Perry issued a proclamation calling an election on Saturday, December 22, 1860, for delegates to a convention to address the issue of whether Florida had a right to withdraw from the Union. The Secession Convention met in Tallahassee on January 3, 1861, and passed, on January 10, the Ordinance of Secession. The ordinance declared Florida to be "a sovereign and independent nation." On April 13, the convention ratified the constitution adopted by the Confederate States of America. The convention adjourned on April 27, 1861.