- 02 Jul 2022 15:05
#15236600
Mr. President, and Senators, having made the announcement which the occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains to me to bid you a final adieu.
From The Papers of Jefferson Davis
Bulaba Khan Jones wrote:Secession is possible and always was possible, but the way it happened resulted in a majority of the states and the majority of its population, North and South included, disagreeing on the manner in which it occurred.
The Founders envisioned the Constitution and its amendments being capable of resolving differences between the states. A culture war existed between abolitionists and the Southern states which operated on slave-based economies. The South gradually lost that culture war and the political war. There were myriad "compromise" agreements which gradually led to slavery not being expanded into new states and territories. Instead of operating through the laws and governmental mechanisms of the states, the Southern states unilaterally seceded because they didn't get their way.
The Founding Fathers absolutely did not intend for individual states to be temporarily governed by people who would secede from the Union if they didn't get something they wanted. That impacts the military, interstate commerce and logistics, travel, and more. Secession of individual states should have been discussed in open Congress and put to a vote. Ironically, had that been done and those states, demanding to secede because their values and cultural way of life no longer allowed for integrated coexistence, were voted against, there would have at least been a justification for armed rebellion. In any case, the idea of states being allowed to secede on a whim for any reason is absurd and not even the Founders would think that makes sense.
Instead, the Southern states were led by little more than thugs who made no serious effort to exhaust their legal recourses and, if they genuinely desired to secede, attempt to proceed in good faith. Each state was led by individuals who, like any lawless band of authoritarians, effectively seized power over their domains and didn't do so in a Constitutional manner.
I can't stress that enough. Instead of bringing forward motions of secession for Congress to decide on (even if they would rebel after an unsuccessful attempt) to legally secede, state governments seized land, federal property, and set about rewriting laws and arming themselves for war.
Ultimately this was a very big tantrum by babies who couldn't handle losing on the slavery issue.
Mr. President, and Senators, having made the announcement which the occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains to me to bid you a final adieu.
From The Papers of Jefferson Davis