Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: WhiskeyPapa
The -people- are the sovereigns, not the states.

In theory that may to some degree be true. But it is a different type of sovereignty than that which is given to a state or government. The founders themselves, who possessed a much better understanding of Lockeanism than you, recognized this to be so:

"The United States will have a qualified sovereignty only. The individual States will retain a part of the Sovereignty." - George Mason, Constitution Convention, 20 August 1787

It was the -people- who stopped the rebellion, or hadn't you heard?

No it wasn't, Walt. The "people" did not wage that war, Walt. The "people" did not wake up one morning and, in unison, decide "we're going to invade the south and stop them from seceding." The "people" did not randomly form together in an army which, by act of their collective decision, turned in the direction of Richmond and proceded to march there. No Walt. Much to the contrary, it was Lincoln who raised the army, both by volunteer and impressment, and engaged them to wage war upon the south. It was Lincoln who decided upon that war as a means of responding to secession. It was Lincoln who managed its progress. It is Lincoln who bears responsibility for its consequences.

And speaking of responsibility, you Linco-philes sure are strange when it comes to that topic. Think about it. You shun his responsibility for war crimes by pushing it off onto other commanders or by denying them entirely just as one would deny Hitler. You shun his responsibility for the war by trying to pass it off as a collective action of the "people" asserting their "sovereignty" (even though such an assertion, if it happened at all, was against another people). You excuse away any and all wrongs that Lincoln ever did - and there were many of them - as if by dishonestly preserving his image somehow also preserves his infallability. That sort of behavior is not normal, Walt. But then again, you did learn it from the master of avoiding personal responsibility by blaming others and he did exactly that when he tried to blame his war on God.

868 posted on 05/05/2003 10:10:16 AM PDT by GOPcapitalist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 863 | View Replies ]


To: GOPcapitalist
"...it was Lincoln who raised the army, both by volunteer and impressment, and engaged them to wage war upon the south. It was Lincoln who decided upon that war as a means of responding to secession. It was Lincoln who managed its progress. It is Lincoln who bears responsibility for its consequences.

As Bruce Catton points out in "The Coming Fury", the Lincoln Administration pretty much continued the Buchanan policy towards the secessionists pretty much unchanged.

In any event, Lincoln's call for 75,000 militia was filled quickly and to overflowing. The draft provided only @ 6% of federal man power. You conveniently overlook that the rebel government was the first to go to conscription.

The Congress provided the money and the legislation to prosecute the war. Lincoln was just one man.

Had the secessionists kept their seats in the Congress, Lincoln could not have done a thing to attack slavery. It was the slave power that rolled the dice, and they were the big losers.

Walt

869 posted on 05/05/2003 10:35:35 AM PDT by WhiskeyPapa (Be copy now to men of grosser blood and teach them how to war!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 868 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson