Decision Is Reversed

The convention had adjourned after voting down secession, with the endorsement of some measures looking to a solution of the crisis. It was reassembled May 6, under the authority of David Walker, president of the body. Seventy delegates met in the capitol building in Little Rock, and at 3 o’clock in the afternoon William P. Grace reported and recommended for adoption a secession ordinance.

Memorial located at the Old State House

A profound silence held the delegates and the onlookers who filled the hall and corridors, as the fateful words were read. Men leaned forward in attitudes of rapt attention, their faces flushed, strong hands gripping seats and railings. The weight of a tremendous issue lay upon everyone there. Into the building floated the subdued sounds of the street, the rattle of wheels, clomp of hoops and cries of children at play, through which there occasionally vibrated the remote, hoarse whistle of a steamboat tolling up or down the turbid river. But all of that pleasant commotion went unheeded. Every ear was strained for the solemn pronouncement that thrilled through the room, with the accents of life and death.

“And we do hereby further declare and ordain…that her citizens are absolved from all other allegiance to the said government of the United States, and that she is in full possession of all the rights and sovereignty which appertain to a free and independent state.”

The reading was finished in a stillness as tense as the hush before a mighty storm. Then James Yell, one of the delegates from Jefferson, moved that the ordinance be adopted. The roll call proceeded in an atmosphere charged with excitement to the uttermost limit of restrain. At 10 minutes after four the president announced that the ordinance had carried by a vote of 65 to 5. A vast, resounding cheer went up from the assemblage. The die was cast, the smothering suspense ended. Four of the five who had voted no asked permission to change their vote to yes. Only Isaac Murphy, of Madison County, later to be governor of the state remained in opposition to the ordinance.