This is the original document of "The Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union", which is a legal proclamation issued on December 24, 1860, by the government of South Carolina, explaining its reasons for seceding from the United States. The declaration was written by Christopher Memminger, first Secretary of the Treasury for the Confederate States of America.The opening portion of the declaration outlines the historical background of South Carolina and offers a legal justification for its secession. It asserts that the right of states to secede is implicit in the Constitution and this right was explicitly reaffirmed by South Carolina in 1852. The declaration states that the agreement between South Carolina and the United States is subject to the law of compact, which creates obligations on both parties and which revokes the agreement if either party fails to uphold its obligations.The next section asserts that the government of the United States and of states within that government had failed to uphold their obligations to South Carolina. The specific issue stated was the refusal of some states to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, clauses in the US Constitution protecting slavery, and the federal government's perceived role in attempting to abolish slavery.The next section states that while these problems have existed for twenty-five years, the situation had recently become unacceptable due to the election of a president (Abraham Lincoln although he is not mentioned by name) who was planning to outlaw slavery.The final section concludes with a statement that South Carolina had therefore seceded from the United States.Following the declaration of causes is the ordinance that dissolves the Union between South Carolina and other states united with it.