The Confederacy’s problem was that it was heterogeneous. That’s why they found Lincoln so egregious. They could not conceive of emancipating their slaves, and could not sell them to the western states if slavery were contained only in those states where it was already established. So they felt they would be forever held back economically and socially by the agrarian policies that in their view slavery required; i.e., pre-capitalist and semi-feudal, and at the same time in the midst of the industrial revolution, thanks to Eli Whitney.
The North was also heterogeneous, and free-born and freed blacks in the North did socially and economically quite well, according to Thomas Sowell. They were assimilated and prosperous, despite being segregated in public accommodations. See Frederick Douglas’ rant on the subject. But the North was heterogeneous in other respects, having immigrants from Ireland and the Netherlands, as well.
Not necessarily related was the Northern economy, which was purely capitalistic. In the South, a planter bought land, kept cheap agricultural tools, and slaves. If he wanted to make more money, he bought more land, more cheap agricultural tools, and more slaves. The ratio of land, slave and yield remained pretty constant. In the North, the prosperous farmer bought the latest agricultural tools, began using horses instead of oxen to plow and till, and used the latest agricultural methods. The result was that Northern farmers had less land, less expense and higher yields, while Southern planters had vast expanses of land that were used to grow cotton and tobacco only, large numbers of slaves for the labor-intensive work, and bought the food for their slaves from small farms nearby, or from the North.
Now about Article 1, Section 8, it empowers Congress to institute uniform laws of naturalization, without specifying the nature of those laws. You can disagree with the laws instituted, you can believe that those laws will lead to disaster, but that doesn’t mean that North committed treason by “unnaturalizing” the country, or exclude Obama from being a naturalized Kenyan immigrant, or whatever he really was. It just means that if you were in Congress, you would push for a different law.
Treason is defined in Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution, as follows:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
Nowhere in that definition is it defined to mean enacting laws that a freeper believes are disastrous.
But back to the South and Jeff Davis, the Declaration was an act of treason against the King of England. The Revolutionary War was an act of treason. So was the secession of the South and the WBTS (nice acronym). That does not mean that the South didn’t have grievances that might justify their secession. But if they had the best reasons in the world, it would still be treason. If you win a revolt, you are a hero. If you lose, you are a treasonous SOB.
bushpilot2:
"Jefferson Davis was part of the Posterity in the Preamble....Obama isn’t.
The North unnaturalized the country after WBTS violating Article 1, Section 8.
That was truly treasonous." This is the second time in recent days I've seen an overt defense of racism on Free Republic, and since the first was even more obliquely stated than this one, I let it go, unchallenged.
But now have seen two and if they go unremarked on, we can be certain there'll be more, and they'll be more explicit.
In half a dozen posts here bushpilot2 argues that "natural born" citizens were originally intended to be only free whites, and here states that when freed blacks were added in 1870 "that was truly treasonous.".
Of course, that's a big lie of the worst kind and tells us that bushpilot2 is not a good person at heart.
In fact, the 1870 law bushpilot2 draws our attention to was made 100% constitutional by the 13th (1865), 14th (1868) & 15th (1870) amendments.
These amendments were passed in response to real treason of Confederates in declaring & waging war against the United States:
Article 3, Section 3 "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
As for what created the current multi-cultural conditions, that was Teddy Kennedy's 1965 Immigration Act.
- "In the Senate, 52 Democrats voted yes, 14 no, and 1 abstained.
Among Senate Republicans, 24 voted yes, 3 voted no, and 1 abstained.[10]
- In the House, 202 Democrats voted yes, 60 voted no and 12 abstained, 118 Republicans voted yes, 10 voted no and 11 abstained.[11]
- In total, 74% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans voted for passage of this bill.
- Most of the no votes were from the American South, which was then still strongly Democratic.
- During debate on the Senate floor, Senator Kennedy, speaking of the effects of the act, said, "our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. ...
Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset".[12]
Of course, being a Democrat, Kennedy only did what Democrats by nature naturally do: he lied and lied & lied some more.
