Virtue Magazine

So spoke Abraham Lincoln during that winter day, eloquently echoing the words of the Declaration of Independence, which states, “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government.”

Twelve years later, a group of Southern states took Lincoln at his word, and applied the principle of the Declaration of Independence. Instead of sticking by what he had said, Lincoln declared that an insurrection was in progress, and called for 75,000 troops to suppress the rebellion. The Union, he boldly proclaimed, was indissoluble. No state had the right of secession. The Federal government was supreme, and if the states attempted to contest that government, Washington had every right to call up troops to invade those states, and crush them. So he did, and a war that ultimately cost 600,000 American lives erupted, shattering an entire people and culture, and changing our government from one of limited, Constitutional powers, to a giant behemoth supreme over all state and local authorities.

Abraham Lincoln took the indefensible position that the Union had created the states, thus equating the Union with the Constitution. It is ironic then, that when the Treaty of Paris, ending the war of the American Revolution, was signed, the British government specifically indicated that they were signing a treaty with the states; they mentioned all thirteen states in the preamble of the treaty. This was long before the Constitution was drafted. The British understood that each state had separate and sovereign powers. This did not change when they drafted the Constitution. The Constitution itself specified that it was only binding upon those states that ratified it. States such as North Carolina and Rhode Island, who delayed their ratification, were considered as foreign nations during that time. When they did ratify, it was plainly understood by each state that they retained every power not delegated in the text of the Constitution to the Federal government. Some states, in particular Virginia and New York, specifically mentioned in their own state constitutions that they could reassume the powers delegated to the Federal government, if those powers were ever perverted to their oppression. Virginia considered that such had occurred when Lincoln demanded they supply troops to invade their sister Southern states. They seceded, and bore the brunt of the war for four years.

What did the Founders think? Let’s take just a couple of examples. Thomas Jefferson, the great champion of limited government, wrote, “If any state in the Union will declare that it prefers separation… to a continuance in union… I have no hesitation in saying, ‘Let us separate’.” He recognized that a seceding state was only exercising the same right the colonies had exercised when they rebelled against King George III.

John Quincy Adams was a staunch Unionist, but he proclaimed, “The indissoluble link of union between the people of the several states of this confederated nation is, after all, not in the right, but in the heart. If the day should ever come (may Heaven avert it!) when the affections of the people of these States shall be alienated from each other; when the fraternal spirit shall give way to cold indifference, or collision of interests shall fester into hatred, the bands of political associations will not long hold together parties no longer attracted by the magnetism of conciliated interests and kindly sympathies; to part in friendship from each other, than to be held together by constraint. Then will be the time for reverting to the precedents which occurred at the formation and adoption of the Constitution, to form again a more perfect Union by dissolving that which could no longer bind, and to leave the separated parts to be reunited by the law of political gravitation to the center.” Adams, apparently, did not agree with Lincoln’s preposterous assertion that the Union created the states. He would seem to agree with that famous observer of early America, Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote in Democracy In America, “The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the States; and in uniting together they have not forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people. If one of the states chooses to withdraw from the compact, it would be difficult to disprove its right of doing so, and the Federal government would have no means of maintaining its claims directly either by force or right.”

Abraham Lincoln disagreed. The Federal government was supreme, a union held together by bayonets better than no union at all. He ignored the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, ignoring the fact that secession was taught as a perfectly just and legal method in government arenas such as West Point. Were he to allow the Southern states to peacefully withdraw, the North would lose the benefit of millions of dollars it was raking in through the imbalanced tarriff laws, besides the loss of power and prestige he himself would suffer. He made no attempt to bring the Southern states back, and refused to even meet with the Confederate peace commissioners, sent by President Jefferson Davis to avert a war. He ignored the precedent of New Englanders, who had considered secession at least twice in the early years of the union. He ignored the dozens of Northern newspapers that admitted the right of secession, many of whom advocated allowing the Southern states to go in peace. Instead of seeking peace, he provoked the Southerners into firing on Ft. Sumter, which convinced most Northern papers and people to support his war. Those newspapers that continued to protest his war found themselves shut down by force of arms, on orders from Lincoln himself. So much for freedom of the press. So much for state’s rights. It would take a war to vindicate the idea that the Union preceded and was superior to the states, the idea that the Federal government was completely supreme, and recognized no limit to its own power. Lincoln’s view prevailed, and we are living with the consequences to this very day.