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To: GOPcapitalist
There were no fibs involved in Lincoln words or his actions. His actions were not an invasion, since one does not invade ones own country. He sent forces south to put down the rebellion that the southerners themselves had initiated and that they are responsible for. Coercion was no longer a consideration once southern hostilites began. One tries coercion to prevent another from taking an action, but once the action is taken anyway then you react to it. Lincoln didn't try to coerce anything, just made it clear that in his view the southern states were part of the United States regardless of what they said or did. When that tactic failed, he met armed violence with armed violence.

Protectionism tariffs may have been, and I don't deny that at all, the most visible signs of the central government in the south were the courts, the post office, and collection of tariff. I suppose that if there was as subsidized steamship line in Charleston or a trans-Mississippi railroad that the government was supporting then Lincoln might have mentioned them as well. But as far as the south was concerned, maintaining the forts, collecting the tariff, delivering the mail were the surest signs that the Federal government still was a presence down south. Denying the forces of rebellion possession of the forts or the ability to collect tariffs were signs to the outside world that they were not a government, regardless of what they said.

251 posted on 08/14/2002 10:26:30 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: Non-Sequitur
There were no fibs involved in Lincoln words or his actions.

His actions were inconsistent with his words because he did exactly what he called invasion and then tried to claim he was not doing.

Face it. You are grasping at straws on this one. It is evident in your argument itself, which has shifted to a debate of skewered semantics, spin doctoring, and pro-Lincoln bullsh*t artistry.

But try as you may you still can't seem to get around the consequences of Lincoln's statement. Lincoln specifically defined invasion as marching an army into a region against the will of its people and in hostility toward them. That he did exactly that throughout the war simply cannot be denied. Therefore he invaded. There's no way around it.

259 posted on 08/14/2002 4:02:50 PM PDT by GOPcapitalist
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