Walter E. Williams
THE PROBLEMS THAT LED TO THE CIVIL WAR are the same problems today ---- big, intrusive government. The reason we don't face the specter of another Civil War is because today's Americans don't have yesteryear's spirit of liberty and constitutional respect, and political statesmanship is in short supply.
Actually, the war of 1861 was not a civil war. A civil war is a conflict between two or more factions trying to take over a government. In 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was no more interested in taking over Washington than George Washington was interested in taking over England in 1776. Like Washington, Davis was seeking independence. Therefore, the war of 1861 should be called "The War Between the States" or the "War for Southern Independence." The more bitter southerner might call it the "War of Northern Aggression."
I like the name the United States government gave in their official history: The War of the Rebellion.
"THE PROBLEMS THAT LED TO THE CIVIL WAR are the same problems today ---- big, intrusive government."
That article was written 14+ years ago.
I'd hope that in the years since, maybe Williams has cracked a history book or two, and learned something about what really happened back then.
Oh come on. Williams can’t even get the dates of the Morrill Tariff right. We’re supposed to care what he thinks caused the Civil War?
As I recollect, Lee maneuvered on Washington DC at Gettysburg and Sharpsburg. First Bull Run Beauregard tried to maneuver on Washington DC, by going around the right of Union forces.
Only because of loyal militia companies, and the disarming of disloyal militia companies was Lincoln ever inaugurated.
So yes, the southern pretended government did attempt to take over Washington, several times.