[lentulusgracchus]

Judge Merrick is supposed to have been detained in October 1861, long after the rebellion had begun. Also, Judge Merrick was a judge in the District of Columbia. So what did any of this have to do with Virginia and North Carolina?

What it has to do with them is that you are trying to deflect the point, a good one, by changing the subject and inviting our attention to irrelevancies.

The point is, Lincoln levied red war on two unseceded States because the courts weren't open. Then he did the same thing to Judge Merrick that, when supposedly done by North Carolina e.g. (accepting Lincoln's charge against them arguendo), merited sending an army.

He was a practical hypocrite, in other words. Have to close up now -- lightning all around! Zowie! That was close......'bye, y'all!

[Non-Sequitur]

The point is, Lincoln levied red war on two unseceded States because the courts weren't open.

Lincoln extended the blockade to include Virginia and North Carolina because they had seized government arsenals, forts, and facilities. The first hostile actions came from them.