In what way were the rights of Georgia encroached upon? Had the Federal government attempted to outlaw slavery? No. Indeed, Lincoln promised not to do anything about slavery in the states in which it resided. And of course, Lincoln had not even taken office when that Georgian declaration was written and the previous administrations were all hospital to the institution of slavery. Douglas's popular sovereignty was an attempt to allow slavery's spread.
The problem really came down to this: Lincoln and many in the North wanted the expansion of slavery halted with the hopes that with its containment it would eventually wither on the vine. The South wanted to see slavery expanded into the territories in the belief that that would strengthen their political power and safeguard slavery in perpetuity.
Let me say one thing more. The true test of Democracy is how people respond when they lose an election. Do they react with respect and acceptance towards the democratic institutions or do they react in anger and bullets? Lincoln was elected fairly and constitutionally. The South did not wait to see what Lincoln would actually do as President; instead they declared themselves independent. Why? The bottom line is they seceded because they lost an election.
So much for their high ideals.
The true test of Democracy is how people respond when they lose an election. Do they react with respect and acceptance towards the democratic institutions or do they react in anger and bullets?
How about the northerners reaction after the Civil War. The fourteenth amendment is an amendment which has broadly expanded the power of the the federal government. Its ratification is an affront to American democracy and did great violence to the principles of liberty and free government. A few examples of why this is so are cited by Patrick Henry Olmor in his book the Phantom Fourteenth.
" On December 4, 1865, in undeniable violation of the Constitution (Sections 2 and 3 of Article I and Article V), eighty legally elected delegates from the eleven Confederate States were excluded from their rightful seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate by means of the brazen, unheard-of machination of simply refusing to call their names and allow them to be seated. Thereafter, all the proceedings of that unconstitutional "39th Congress" (as well as the subsequent "40th Congress") were null and void, being the doings of bogus "legislators" who lacked valid lawmaking power.
2.
On June 13, 1866, the joint resolution of "Congress" proposing the "Fourteenth Amendment" was therefore null and void. Since this first requirement for the adoption of an amendment was not fulfilled, the subsequent requirement that it be ratified by three-fourths of the States did not, in reality, come into play. However, copies of it were submitted to the thirty-six States, including the eleven Confederate States, for ratification or rejection.
3.
On January 25, 1867, a joint resolution rejecting the "Fourteenth Amendment" was passed in the Mississippi legislature. By making its adoption now mathematically impossible, this tenth rejection by a State killed the amendment just 6½ months after its submission to the States.
4.
On July 21, 1868, "Congress" passed a mere concurrent resolution falsely declaring the "Fourteenth Amendment" was ratified by the required number of States. Falling far short of the necessary twenty-seven, only eighteen States had validly ratified it at the time. Of importance here is the fact that concurrent resolutions, unlike joint resolutions, have no legal effect whatsoever. The "Fourteenth Amendment" was officially "adopted" on July 28, 1868, on the strength of a legally impotent concurrent resolution that once and for all surrendered all legal justification for its existence."