Hurtzdonuts....yummy

[I'm pretty sure this was meant for an Lp forum thread on myspace, I thiiink amn't sure, but was in response to the question of like, should a state secede today, or would you support it, something like that.]

The reason why secession was seen as treason against the country was because the dominant thought (apparently throughout the Union/North) was that the Constitution was ratified only that one time at the Constitutional Convention. (It wasn't ratified at the convention but you know what I mean.) It was never set up as a contract subject to renewal by each generation of rabble-rousers/freedom fighters.

Oh yeah yeah "governments derive their just powers from consent of the governed..." and all that...but those words aren't in the Constitution, but the Declaration of Independence. There's not only a war but also another national compact between the two and the extent to which you can comprehend the change that made throws away the right of secession as a product of the Revolution. And no, the Revolution itself was not a secession movement, since the colonies were never anything but colonies. If they'd wanted seats in Parliament, they could have bitched and complained or behaved better and eventually gotten 'em.

The two major secession threats before 1860 were just that: threats. Overshadowed by destroyed political parties and denigrated, ideologically pigeonholed politicians on both sides (Jackson for his Crusade against the Bank, Calhoun for advocating slavery as a positive good by the end of his life); secession itself, as a right and valid response to perceived and real tyranny by the federal government was becoming the cry of "wolf."

By 1860 not only was secession not taken seriously because of its track record, but it was becoming a joke in the House/Senate.

'We are still just where we started six months ago, except that our Southern friends have dissolved the Union forty or fifty times since then." Congressman Schuyler Colfax, about conditions in Congress in 1859.

"There had been two overt attempts at secession already....the second upon the election of Speaker [of the House] Pennington, when the South seceded from Congress, went out, took a drink, and then came back. The third attempt would be...when Old Abe would be elected. They would then again secede and this time would take two drinks, but would come back again." -Congressman Carl Schurz, during the 1860 campaign.

[This is an old post I didn't even put in blogger, so finding where I got those quotes from will be a bitch but likely doable if called on 'em]

Even as a minarch, I refuse to recognize any morality associated with a government. If you think diLorenzo is the messiah of Civil War historiography, then you're missing out. On at least this. (it's a pdf. Skip to page 6 for the prices set by the government.)

If a state seceded today their temporal life would be guaranteed to be short and I don't mean of the state entity.