After reading the opening statement of South Carolina’s declaration of secession from the United States, identify an alternative they might have taken under the U. S. Constitution: The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A. D., 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and further forbearance ceases to be a virtue.

The people of South Carolina could simply have stopped paying federal taxes to force the issue.

The people of South Carolina might have taken no action and continued government as usual.

The state of South Carolina might have raised troops and invaded the North with no previous warning.

The government of South Carolina might have brought its case before the U. S. Supreme Court.