dreammachine
Member
I can't argue with the way the South Carolina Secession Articles were written and yes it did have slavery in it as a cause to freely leave the Union as they felt it was their right. This Article of Secession, like most laws were written by wealthy - highly - educated - men and not the common farmer/merchant that lived in the South (This also happened in the North). One cannot make an accurate opinion of why the War Between The States started if you only look at the beginning of hostilities. The bad temperament between both sides had existed for at least 30 to 40 years before the outbreak of the War Between The States. They almost came to blows in the 1850's if it had not been for cooler heads and minds. The only good thing for the South if war had broken out in 1850, it would have a lot better percentage of winning as the North had not fully entered the Industrial Leap Forward as it did in the early 1860's. South was being taxed at a high rate and only saw their tax dollars going North for the most part, which was a true statement.
After our first war of independence from Great Britain and we won our freedom, there was the great difficulty of having 13 colonies to sign 13 different peace accords with. Then you had to get all 13 original colonies to agree to come together and form one nation. There's where the "rub" came into play. No state wanted to give to a central govt the power that they had just fought with the "Super Power Of The World To Win" and thus be in the same boat all over again. So, a loosely formed central govt was formed with the 13 original colonies where they all "freely joined". Since they all agreed to "freely join" there was nothing in the constitution of the United States that said they could not "freely leave whenever they got ready". In fact, during the War of 1812, once again with Great Britain, the New England States met together and voted on a resolution to succeed from the Union and it passed and before they could adjourn their meeting, a rider on horseback came up and told of General Andrew Jackson's victory over the British Army at the Battle of New Orleans. Now what would have happened if General Andrew Jackson had lost that battle or the rider had gotten there a day late? Would we had have the New England States forming their own govt
? If secession was wrong or illegal, then Jefferson Davis (Who Begged To Be Tried) Robert E. Lee and several other high ranking members of the Confederate States of America would have been brought to trial. The U.S. Supreme Court knew it was a battle that they could not win in the courtroom and suggested that President Jefferson Davis be released and set free.
As I had stated in a earlier post, the blame for slavery in the USA can just as easily be laid at the doorstep of the North as it can be at the South. No slave ship ever flew the Confederate Flag over it and all slaves that were brought into Southern Ports where from the New England States where merchant ships was the main form of commerce. Slavery also existed in the United States from 1776 until 1865. Slavery only existed in the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865. It is easy to point fingers when your cash crop and commerce for the most part has been driven by the greed of Northern Merchants and Businessmen.
I would also like to point a fact that I have discussed with many of my Northern Friends over the Late War Of Northern Aggression (Civil War) and it is this:
"If slavery was such an evil thing (we all know that slavery in any form is bad - but consider the times these people live in), why during a mighty - four year struggle by the undersized and out-numbered Confederate Armies - who depended on the crops/meats/supplies that were coming in from the rural areas of the South so all the able bodied white men could go off and fight and all that was left at home were "old men - women - children", the slaves could have revolted and over-thrown their masters and the Southern Armies in the fields fighting the Yankees would have had to return home to put down the rebellions, but this never happened on a large scale, maybe a few revolted here and there, but for the vast majority of them (slaves) they stayed loyal and helped the South do all it could do as they also felt like they were defending their homelands. Now this is something you will never read in books that were written after the "Carpetbaggers/Scallywags" came South and then the total Military Occupation of the only part of the United States that has ever had to have military troops in it and some of them stayed as long as 12 years - came to be. After this time there were certain elements of the Northern Abolitionist Movement and the Union Army/Govt that wanted to divide the Southern Whites against the Southern Blacks and they did a pretty good job of it. This 12 year occupation and restriction of Southern Soldiers/Sailors/Govt Officials is the main reason the KKK was formed and that was to protect what little rights the Southern Whites had after military occupation by the North and they used many Colored Troops in their occupation which only further widened the gap between the Southern Whites and Blacks. The KKK in it's early days did a very good job in helping rid the land of military occupation by Northern Troops. Once this was done throughout the South the KKK (Original KKK) was totally disbanded and told to never reform. Over the years after this, many outlaw units that could not be controlled began to reform, but it was not the intent or desire of the original leaders of the KKK to have this continue. As a matter of fact the largest ever organization of KKK Members was in the state of Indiana
? Ain't that a hoot!!! I enjoy our talks/conversations as it is good to hear comments and understanding from both sides of the aisle. Please keep up the good work.
