It is often said that “history is written by the winners.” While this is often true, it is not an absolute. Historical facts are attainable, and truth is discernible. We just need the honesty and wisdom to accept such.
But there can be no question that the American “Civil War” has been demagogued by the Left to produce consequences they desire. And their biased interpretation of that war is going a long way in helping in the destruction of the United States—their foremost goal.
First of all, the War Between the States was not a “civil war,” in the true sense. A civil war is a conflict between two factions that are trying to take over control of the same government. That is not what happened in 1861-65. The southern states weren’t trying to take over the American government, they were trying to leave it. Just like the American Revolutionary War, the North-South conflict was a war of secession, not a true “civil war.”
And it certainly did not start out as a war to end slavery. That is perhaps the biggest lie in American history. Both Abraham Lincoln and Congress made it plain, upon initiation of the war, that slavery had nothing to do with it. It was a war to keep the Union together (so Lincoln and Congress said), not a war to end slavery. That the North went to war to end slavery is utterly laughable. They never would have done so and didn’t do so. In 1862, because of various reasons which I won’t go into here, Lincoln did add the abolition of slavery to the war’s purpose. But it didn’t start out that way, and slavery was NOT the “cause” of the “civil war.” It only became a cause when Lincoln needed it to be so.
The main reason for the war (as I noted in a recent article, read it here) was money. That’s the rationale for nearly every war in history, and our internal conflict was no different.
Now, it is fair to say that the main purpose the Southern states seceded was to protect their “peculiar institution” of slavery. It wasn’t the only reason they seceded, and the last four states to secede only did so after Lincoln started the war (and he did—he goaded the South into firing the first shot). Slavery certainly had a role in the South’s secession, but, as noted, ending slavery was not the reason the North went to war. Keeping the Union together so that the South would continue to pay the majority of federal taxes was the reason for the war.
But that “secession because of slavery” point is relevant. The southern states were increasingly fearful of the federal government’s encroachment upon state prerogatives as given in the Constitution. We must understand a little bit about the formation of our government to understand this point.
When America won its independence in 1783, technically, 13 independent states were created. They had, and did, decide to form a Union, currently (supposedly) under the authority of the 1789-ratified Constitution. That Constitution was created by the states and ratified by the states (the people through their states). It gave the federal government certain limited, specified, “defined” powers—“Feds, you can do these things, and nothing else” (see especially Article 1, Section 8). All other powers, as stated in the 10th Amendment of the Bill of Rights, belonged to the states and to the people.
Our Founders hoped that the Constitution would restrict the power-hungry nature of man, limiting—for the first time in history—what a government could do. But unfortunately, the Constitution, ultimately, is only a piece of paper, and the hearts of men who lust for power came into conflict with the limited power the Constitution gave the national government.
What happened in the first 70 years of American history under our Constitution (1790-1860), was (in the eyes of Southerners) growing usurpations of states’ rights by the federal government. The Bank of the United States, internal improvements, land grants to colleges, a high, protective tariff (protecting Northern industry and hurting Southern agriculture)—all of these things, and others, were not in the Constitution as powers the states gave to the national government. They might, or might not, have been good ideas, but that is irrelevant. They were not powers given to Washington by the states in the Constitution. There is an amendment process in the Constitution—if the federal government believes it needs more power, it can ask the states, who can then agree (or disagree) to give the national government more power. That had not been done in any of the matters the South was concerned about.
When the totally Northern Republican Party gained control of the Presidency and both houses of Congress in 1860, southern states feared that the Northern party would go hog wild and start doing things the Constitution did not allow the federal government to do. Things like, try to abolish slavery (and also pass a high tariff, which Congress immediately did in early 1861). Rather than submit to this kind of government, the southern states chose to secede from what they believed to be a government that would not abide by its Constitutionally-limited powers. The Republican Party, in word and deed, seemed to be proving the Southerners right.
The North—the federal government—won the war. From that day on, the national government has defined its own powers and ignores the Constitution whenever it wants to do something. You won’t find 99% of what Washington does today in the Constitution if you read that document till your eyeballs fall out. The “Civil War” destroyed the country as established by our Founding Fathers.
We have allowed the federal government to define its own powers. And because of that, those powers are becoming unlimited—at least, in theory. What can they not do? This is not the country founded by Washington, Jefferson, Madison, et al, not even close. The Supreme Court is no protection because it is a part of the federal government. Its recent decision forbidding Texas to protect its own borders is a case in point. The national government SHOULD be protecting America’s borders. But it isn’t doing so. When the feds won’t do their jobs, the states and the people can certainly do so, for self-defense and protection of property are supreme rights people have. Texas has every right to defend itself from invasion by an illegal mass of humanity. Joe Biden and the current federal government so ignores the Constitution that it won’t even perform the duties the Constitution gives it.
America has become the very kind of country our Founders rebelled against—a country with a national government that does what it wishes, and grants powers to the states and the people as it sees fits. Actually, that’s the kind of government China has...
The War Between the States was a war of two philosophies—national government sovereignty vs. state sovereignty. The Constitution certainly gives the federal government certain powers and the states cannot usurp those. But the same is true as well for state powers. The South seceded to defend the rights of states; the North went to war, ultimately, to give the federal government final authority in the country. And the North won.
And we have Joe Biden, the Uniparty, the Deep State, and current Washington, D.C. as a result.