Mississippi, state, United States: Expansionism and Secession

Land hunger increased as more new settlers arrived, lured by the continuing cotton boom. By a series of treaties (1820, 1830, and 1832), the Native Americans in the state were pushed west across the Mississippi. Mississippians were among the leading Southern expansionists seeking new land for cotton cultivation and the extension of slavery. After 1840 slaves in the state outnumbered nonslaves.

On Jan. 9, 1861, Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union. State pride was highly gratified by the choice of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy. Civil War fighting did not reach Mississippi until Apr., 1862, when Union forces were victorious at Corinth and Iuka. Grant's brilliant Vicksburg campaign ended large-scale fighting in the state, but further destruction was caused by the army of Gen. W. T. Sherman in the course of its march from Vicksburg to Meridian. Moreover, cavalry of both the North and South, particularly the Confederate forces of Gen. N. B. Forrest, remained active.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Natural Disasters and Economic Difficulties
• The Persistence of Racial Conflict
• Public Works
• Disenfranchisement and Sharecropping
• Reconstruction
• Expansionism and Secession
• Territorial Status and Statehood
• Native Inhabitants and European Settlement
• Government and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

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