Secession and Nullification

Chris Matthews and MSNBC is on a rant again regarding secession and nullification. This is getting old. The Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865. Revisionists would have you believe that this war was fought specifically over the issue of slavery. The latest trigger point was the Sesquicentennial Celebration in South Carolina being held. Negro groups and left wing media are screaming about how disgraceful celebrating a political act instituted by the South Carolina Legislature and 6 other Southern States. Disgraceful? So should we also consider celebrating the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain as disgraceful? Of course not. Both were political acts, both instituted by legal bodies and for essentially similar reasons. The parliament in England was dictating policy and law from London even with a colonial representative. The guiding force in London was for the glory of the empire, the rights of the colonials were of secondary importance. The southern states felt then that they were being pushed around by Washington and their needs and right were being neglected. As long as there was balance in the Senate, the southern states were content. Have we forgotten the Missouri Compromise? For every free state entering the Union, there would be a slave state. There was balance. The states decided if they wanted to be free or slave. Keep in mind, until the amended 13th Amendment was approved in December 1865. Did I say amended? Yes I did.

What was the original 13th Amendment signed by President Buchanan and later approved of by Abraham Lincoln in his inaugural address in 1861?

"The Corwin Amendment was passed by the House on March 1, 1861 and the Senate on March 3, 1861. President Buchanan signed it the same day, which was also his last full day in office; it was later ratified by three states: Ohio, Maryland and Illinois.[23] This proposed amendment would have forbidden the adoption any constitutional amendment that would have abolished or restricted slavery, or permitted the Congress to do so. This proposal was an unsuccessful attempt to convince the Southern states not to secede from the Union."

"Abraham Lincoln, in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861, specifically referenced the Corwin Amendment: "I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution...has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable."".

Even Abraham Lincoln approved of a constitutional amendment to forbid abolishment of slavery in the United States, he said so himself to the nation!! Lincoln was a gradualist, he believed as the South did, it was only a matter of time before slavery died on it's own.

Now, lets look at the numbers. It take, by the constitution 60% of the states to approve such amendment, 3 NORTHERN states had already approved it. Take the 11 Southern states which seceded that would bring the number to 14 states. There were as of 1860, 33 states. 20 would be needed for ratification, so only 6 more would be needed. Now, given the fact that slave labor meant that raw materials, such as cotton made US made items competitive, it is not beyond the realm of possibility the manufacturing states would have voted for the amendment, in fact to keep Negroes in the South would have been yet another reason to vote for it. Before the matter could be taken up by the other Northern states, the Civil War had begun.

Anyway, to suggest that slavery was the ONLY issue seems to be a red herring since there was a constitutional amendment on the table and only 6 more votes would be needed to ratify. Believe it or not, that amendment is still considered pending and could be approved.

Now, lets take a look at slavery in itself until December 1865. Whether we want to admit it or not, slavery was legal in the United States. Slaves were an asset, a piece of property, owned by a slave owner. Think of a slave as a car, you put gas in the tank, air in the tires, wash and wax it. They were not considered by anyone at the time as human beings, from a practical standpoint. The Emancipation Proclamation was a strategic plan to foster a slave revolt in the South. It also denied slave owners due process for compensation for their loss of property. Imagine today the Federal government seizing your home or property and just giving it away without compensation. There would be such an uproar, possibly rebellion.

The end of the Civil War brought an Army of Occupation into the Southern states. Not only did the South lose the war, but they were subjected to an army of occupation, military control of their lives. Their homes destroyed, property seized by legal and illegal means. For 10 years the South suffered the indignation of being an occupied land. Everything they fought for, states rights was destroyed. Millions of Negroes were free to roam the countryside, North and South. Homeless and jobless they were, just as the whites who were left alive. The Federal government crammed the Negro down the throats of all of America, promising 40 acres and a mule. So here you have it, a war which was lost, an army of occupation, homes lost a way of living destroyed and who was promised 40 acres and a mule? Is it any wonder, given the times that there would not be some sort of backlash?

Lets fast forward to today for a moment. To illustrate my point as to relevance, look at the immigration debate regarding illegals. Do we not take issue with illegals taking over our jobs, even though we would not be caught dead doing them? These illegals are taking resources only Americans should have. There is a belief that they get free medical care, food stamps and welfare. Their children infest our schools for free..the list goes on and on. Now, given the situation today, is it so far fetched to believe that the South and the North felt the same way? Of course they did. The record is clear on this point. I wonder, had the North lost the war and was occupied by the Confederate Army, there would not have been backlash as well. My guess is that there would have not been such a thing. The South was never interested in occupying the North, they just wanted to be left alone.

So, had the 13th Amendment been approved and had the South not seceded, what then? Would we have a Negro President today? Would we have Civil Rights? With all the bloodshed of patriots on both sides, maybe in the long run it was worth it.

As for secession. I has been said that the issue of secession was settled on the battlefield, not in the courts. This is only half true. How can secession be illegal if there is no law against it? The constitution refers to creating and allowing states in, not the reverse.

As I recall, the 10th Amendment covers this issue, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.". In other words, any power not specifically delegated by the constitution belongs to the states. There is no power to allow for secession or disallow it, therefore secession should be legal.

A later court ruling after the Civil War states this regarding secession in Texas v. White, "There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the States.". This case was decided by the Supreme Court in 1869. Apparently there are two legal means for a state to leave the Union, one is by revolution (interesting choice of words) or consent of the states, which may suggest a reverse dissolution of admittance to the union. So this means that had the Southern states declared their own independence, much like the American Declaration of Independence, it would have been legal? Methinks it's a matter of semantics.

As for states rights? Abraham Lincoln ordered Federal troops to Annapolis, MD to prevent Maryland from voting for secession. Illinois, Lincoln's adopted state (he was from Kentucky), by one vote almost voted for secession.

The rationale of states rights is not the same as it was back then. Today with so much Federal money flowing into the states, the Feds keep them in line, compelling them to adopt laws and regulations in line with Federal law or they threaten to cut off the money to that state. The answer to this dilemma is simple, stop taking the money. No, railing against Federal interference makes for great political theater. The states want the money without any rules or regulations. Some states want the Feds to write them a blank check without any strings attached. That will never happen.

It's like raising a teenager who complains about the rules of the house or a curfew, or who can be their friends. You tell them, when you are living under my roof, you do what I say. When you go out on your own, you can do whatever you want.

I say, if any state wants to leave, leave. Lets stop this nonsense about slavery and civil rights. We cannot go back. So lets move forward. If you want to go it alone, then go, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Confederate Sesquicentennial

My Southern roots, such as they are are rankled a bit by the talking heads needlessly ranting about the in process 150th year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the Southern Confederacy.

A little history. In all 11 states, by either popular vote and/or vote by legislature determined to secede form the Union. The basic legal justification was the Declaration of Independence of the 13 colonies from Great Britain. The general part of that declaration which was the basis for this belief is,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,[72] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

President Lincoln did not accept this argument and raised 75,000 troops to regain control over those states who by popular acclamation chose to 'abolish and institute a new government'. By force of arms the United States invaded the Confederacy. As we all know, the Confederacy lost the war, which was not actually a declared war at all.

There are some questions which arise as a result of the defeat of the Confederacy. How is it that West Virginia can be a state if Constitutionally you cannot make a state from another? If Virginia did not secede as Lincoln stated, then West Virginia is illegal. Here though is the part I don't understand. If the states did not legally secede, then why did they have to be readmitted?

Slavery was not the primary reason for Southern Secession. States rights were and yes, they were coupled politically by slavery. There was a political imbalance which favored the non-slave states. Up until then, there had been balance between slave and free. The Supreme Court had ruled in Dred Scott that the Federal Government could not ban slavery in the western territories. As much as we find slavery a terrible thing today, back then everyone benefited from it. Northern industry relied on cheap Southern products to fashion into manufactured goods for sale domestically and foreign. Today we tolerate cheap labor in China and India and we feel no remorse since we benefit from cheaper goods at the detriment of our own industry. The domestic solution would be to eliminate the minimum wage and let US industry pay slave wages here.

Today we read and hear about states rights, Federal interference in states business. These were the same issues the Southern states faced in the 1850's. This was not just about slavery, it was also about the political imbalance between the industrialized north and the agricultural South. 90% of the rail system was in the north as well as manufacturing plants. The power brokers in the northeast were in control and wanted to be sure that the South stayed relatively poor. This was to their benefit to do so. The balance in the Senate was the only leverage the South had left. When the number of Free states out numbered the Slave states, the South was doomed. What choice did the Southern states have?

I am not here to re-fight the War between the states. There are many myths still floating about the Confederacy, mostly evil. Southernors are not evil by definition as many would have you believe. Racists are evil. Not all Southernors are racist, nor are most racists, Southernor's.

This is about Southern heritage, simple facts that there was another nation on this continent from 1861-1865, one which was destroyed by force of arms.