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What they did may have been intended for the greater good, but it was not exactly kosher.

Oh, I have absoulutely no doubt that the federalists started strengthening national power at the expense of the states from day one.

They got passed the Judicuary Act of 1789, that requires that controversies of a civil nature between the states be submitted to the Supreme Court. Of course they got passed the Militia Act of 1792. They were busy little bees.

They didn't push too hard to make an explict statement in the Constitution of permanent Union, the way the AoC did. They knew that getting the COnstitution ratified would be tough. That is why they bypassed the state legislatures and that is why they soft-peddled what they could.

But there is no doubt that they built a national edifice that men were willing to fight and die for.

You know, we always hear about how the noble southern yeoman could fight for hearth and home, and how noble he was, and all that.

Look at the Loyal Union men -- they could --leave-- their homes and families and fight for something bigger and grander than their own local concerns -- they could fight for all men, everywhere. They are the true heroes of the war.

Walt

"Let us proudly remember that in our time the greatest, the grandest, the noblest army of the world fought, not to enslave, but to free; not to destroy, but to save; not for conquest, but for conscience not only for us, but for every land and every race. With courage, with enthusiasm, with a devotion never excelled, with an exaltation and purity of purpose never equaled, this grand army fought the battles of the Republic. For the preservation of this Nation, for the destruction of slavery, these soldiers, these sailors, on land and sea, disheartened by no defeat, discouraged by no obstacle, appalled by no danger, neither paused nor swerved until a stainless flag, without a rival, floated over all our wide domain, and until every human being beneath its folds was absolutely free.

The great victory for human rights -- the greatest of all the years -- had been won; won by the Union men of the North, by the Union men of the South, and by those who had been slaves. Liberty was national, Slavery was dead.

The flag for which the heroes fought, for which they died, is the symbol of all we are, of all we hope to be." -- Robert Ingersoll, 1882

"The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are in the great struggle for national life. We hear the sounds of preparation -- the music of boisterous drums -- the silver voices of heroic bugles. We see thousands of assemblages, and hear the appeals of orators. We see the pale cheeks of women, and the flushed farces of men; and in those assemblages we see all the dead whose dust we have covered with flowers. We lose sight of them no more. We are with them when they enlist in the great army of freedom. We see them part with those they love. Some are walking for the last time in quiet, woody places, with the maidens they adore. We hear the whisperings and the sweet vows of eternal love as they lingeringly part forever. Others are bending over cradles, kissing babes that are asleep. Some are receiving the blessings of old men. Some are parting with mothers who hold them and press them to their hearts again and again, and say nothing. Kisses and tears, tears and kisses -- divine mingling of agony and love! And some are talking with wives, and endeavoring with brave words, spoken in the old tones, to drive from their hearts the awful fear. We see them part. We see the wife standing in the door with the babe in her arms -- standing in the sunlight sobbing. At the turn of the road a hand waves -- she answer, by holding high in her loving arms the child. He is gone, and forever." -- Robert Ingersoll, 1888