Question

Why did Southern states begin seizing federal properties in 1860 and 1861?
A. Southern leaders wanted to give federal jobs to Southerners who they thought would fulfill duties at these properties better.
B. Southerners did not believe any of the federal properties were useful in any way and wanted to use them in new ways.
C. Southern leaders were worried that the U.S. government would arm employees at these locations to fight Southerners.
D. Secession meant the Southern states did not recognize the U.S. government’s power, so they claimed U.S. properties as their own.

Answer 1

D.

After secession many Southern states no longer recognized the authority of the U.S. government and therefore asserted control over federal forts, arsenals, customhouses, and post offices within their borders. (Concerns about federal forces and arms — as in C — were a secondary motive in specific cases, but the primary legal/political rationale was that seceding states claimed sovereignty and the right to the property.)