Posted on 03/31/2014 10:24:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
INTRODUCTION
On May 27, 1861, the army of the United States of America (the "Union")--a nation formed by consecutive secessions, first from Great Britain in 1776, and then from itself in 17881--invaded the State of Virginia,2 which had recently seceded from the Union, in an effort to negate that secession by violent force.
The historical result of the effort begun that day is well known and indisputable: after four years of brutal warfare, which killed 620,000 Americans, the United States negated the secession of the Confederate States of America, and forcibly re-enrolled them into the Union. The Civil War ended slavery, left the South in economic ruins, and set the stage for twelve years of military rule there.
Beyond its immediate effects, the Civil War made drastic changes in politics and law that continue to shape our world 130 years later. Arthur Ekirch writes: "Along with the terrible destruction of life and property suffered in four long years of fighting went tremendous changes in American life and thought, especially a decline in [classical] liberalism on all questions save that of slavery. * * * Through a policy of arbitrary arrests made possible by Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, persons were seized and confined on the suspicion of disloyalty or of sympathy with the southern cause. Thus, in the course of the Civil War, a total of thirteen thousand civilians was estimated to have been held as political prisoners, often without any sort of trial or after only cursory hearings before a military tribunal."3The Civil War caused and allowed a tremendous expansion of the size and power of the federal government. It gave us our first federal conscription law...
(Excerpt) Read more at apollo3.com ...
But the South started it. That would make them the aggressors.
Diplomacy at the point of a gun eh? The fact is that the installations (such as Sumter) belonged to the federal government - not the state of So. Carolina. If THEY had wanted a “peaceful resolution” they would not have acted so belligerently.
Not this crap again! (Imagine the photo)
1776 was not a 'secession.' It was a damn full blown, all out revolution against a tyrannical government. The Patriots of 1776 made no pretension that their cause was somehow legal under British law. They were 'rebels' and damn proud of that fact! They staked their "Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor" on their cause, not bizarre interpretations of British law.
It really PO's me when the neo-confederates try to compare the events of 1776 with the totally unjustified (both legally and morally) events of 1860-61.
When the hard core slave power radicals began their violent revolution in 1861, the Federal Government had done nothing to violate any of their their rights. Not one single thing! They just thought they could get away with it and take total power to themselves.
All the blame for the bloodshed of 1861 to 1865 rightly belongs on the souls of the slave power fire eaters who intentionally created that awful war solely to advance their financial interests.
Google Knights of the Golden Circle. Most people have never heard of them.
I’m not that young, but my son is young enough to have to bear the brunt of this in his lifetime. Whatever I do will be for him.
I’m agreed, and I’m not American.
That’s a negative, American warhawks kicked that one off, after winning the revolutionary war, certain folks thought they could keep going.
All conservatives please report to Alberta, plenty of jobs await, and we need to localize and create a new free country.
elections have no meaning, anyone hoping to win it through elections is extremely misguided or just has their head so far in the sand, they can’t see daylight.
Sure, but any threats against a nation's military forces in their own bases (i.e., Pearl Harbor, 1941) are provocations for war.
Any military assault on those forces is an act of war -- at Fort Sumter in 1861 just as at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The Confederacy launched war against the United States at Fort Sumter, just as surely as the Japanese did at Pearl Harbor in 1941:
Endlessly repeated, that claim is essential to the pro-Confederate Big Lie.
In fact, the Confederacy had every intention of military expansion well beyond the borders of the eleven states which more-or-less legitimately voted to secede.
Those Union states & territories included Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico.
Indeed, one purpose for Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania in June 1863, was to control major northern cities & land, for possible use in future negotiations.
Confederates also launched raids or guerrillas into Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Colorado, California and even Vermont, not to mention West Virginia.
So clearly the Confederacy represented a major existential threat to the entire United States, and that made its unconditional surrender unconditionally necessary.
Of course, just as you say, it was a "war of aggression" -- Confederate aggression launched against the United States of America.
Hey, I want your house. If you don't leave, you'll force me to beat you up. It will be your fault because you could have backed down, but instead you had groceries delivered.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.