“RFEngineer: “In Lee’s time, loyalty to ones state was not unusual. “
You: “Again, it’s you are utterly confused & disoriented.
You look facts straight in the face, and still deny them, because they don’t fit what you believe. The fact is that many Virginians considered the nation a higher value than their slave-owning state’s secession.”
Perhaps ‘many’ did but many more did not.
The federal government well after the Civil War understood and respected states and their right to be sovereign and this was reflected in the People and their loyalties. . .hence the ‘states rights’ argument as justification for the war.
Post 70 is from the 22 Jan 1897, Congressional Directory, 2nd Session, 54th Congress (the oldest directory I have in hand).
This directory states clearly and in plain language that the president would not directly communicate with state’s governors but instead would use the Sec State. . .just like he would when communicating with foreign governments.
Even after the Civil War the state and People were respected by the federal government, as the federal government kept its distance from them.
The federal government played a very central role to the states and how they related to each other (no doubt), but the federal government recognized its limits and respected the people as citizens of the US, but also sovereign citizens of their state.
Ergo, state loyalty was strong, much stronger that we can appreciate today when most people can’t explain why we have state governments in the first place and always default to the federal government to solve issues and problems.
States as sovereign affects greatly the question of loyalty to the federal government over your own state.
Some chose their state over the federal government, some did not. Regardless, it was NOT an easy decision at the time.
Men respected each other for their decision they made, federal vs state, and identified with them for having to make such a difficult (and deadly) choice.
Your quotes show that even as late as circa 1890, the old relationships still were recognized.
Of course the 13th, 14th & 15th amendments did change everything, but the federal government did not begin its explosion from 2% of GDP to now over 20% until the 16th gave it unlimited revenues and the 17th freed it from states’ control over the US Senate.