The most tyrannical act of the pre-1860 federal government -by far- was the Fugitive Slave Act --the slave states LOVED federal power when it helped them.
For one thing, the slave states had controlled the federal government for decades prior to the ACW. Manufacturing interests need protection -- tariffs. And yet tariffs in this country were LOWER in 1860 than they had been in 40 years. Does that sound like a tyrannical federal government? No. The fact is that the northerners had bent over backwards to maintain the Union, "crucifying", as Abraham Lincoln said in 1854 , "their feelings" in order to maintain their loyalty to the Union and the Constitution.
What the slave power took exception to (and this is plain in their secession documents) was the fact that people in the north were becoming more and more uncomfortable with slavery. Northern states had passed personal liberty laws. They had assisted escaped slaves. They had resisted slave catchers come north to return escaped slaves to their masters. And these actions the slave power found unacceptable. Yancey, one of the main workers in destroying the Democratic Party-- to ensure the election of Lincoln, didn't want northerners to be bothered by the stench of his negroes. He was glad to forestall that -- by breaking up the government of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Jackson.
You don't know the history, or you lie about it.
Walt
Sniff Sniff Sniff. I smell hypocrisy. Your posting your opinions as history and then claiming that I lie about it requires chutzpah worthy of a New Yorker. Kind of hypocritical of you to ignore the most blatant racism in the US today - affirmative action - and start raving about what happened 140 years ago. What do you think of the current US flag. Should it be changed to some homogenized blob because it is a racist symbol? You didn't make any comments about that before, so I'll ask again.