Acutally,Mallory and Yulee of Florida were still in Washington when Florida decided to get out of the union. Mallory was in constant contact with Gov. Perry. Gov Perry called the state convention back and demanded they agree to get out of the union. The vote before had been to stay. Mallory was the Chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee and had been trying to get information on the number of arms and other stores the Federal govt had in Florida. He was denied access to that information. Yulee was able to get the name and number of Army officers stationed in the state.When Yulee and Mallory both asked for the sizes and number of garrisons, the information was denied.

It's not all taxes, tarriffs or slavery. All play a part in the whole show. It was for independence from a government that was not going in the direction those in the Confederate States felt was their best interest. If taxes and tarriffs were not important, why were the ports the first thing the Union reinforced? Surely they didn't expect an armada from England, Spain, France or any other place to be coming right in to help the South. Not that early on. Who benefitted the most in the distribution of federal dollars from those tarriffs and taxes? Just wondering.

Pam