Josef wrote:
I had about 11 family members fight in the Civil War for the Texas infantry. They were for the South, and were part of the McMahon Irish family, as well as dirt poor. My grandmother actually has a picture of all of them at her home, and is going to make me a copy of it.
Second what I know about the war, is that like all history it has been tweaked in the history books. Yes, slavery was part of it, but was not the reason for it. The originol purpose of the Civil War was Nullification which was a states ability to reject Federal laws. It was a states rights VS Federal rights battle. Slavery was part of it because Slavery would be something that was going to be outlawed and the Federal government disagreed with the concept of Nullification which would have meant that the Federal government was pretty much useless because any state could just say “We don’t wanna do this” . The South wanted Nullificationbecause they relied on high tariffs on goods to keep their economy ,which was soley based on Cotton and other goods relating to the textile (and agricultural) industry , from collapsing because of cheap imported cotton that the North would use for its factories if it could. Sooooo with that we have Lincolon being elected whom is an abolitionist who wanted to see slavery outlawed (although never outlawed slavery in the “South”) and mounting tensions due to Missouris admission as a slave state, and I believe it is South Carolinas rejection of a federal Tariff helped fuel tensions eventually leading up to the ultimate question: Can a state secede from the Union, which the Confederate states. There you have the Civil War, and yes Slavery was a big part of it, but also was the States rights VS Federal rights which encompasses slavery. Also the South knew, and understood that they could not keep slavery forever so the whole "if the South won there would still be slavery" is false.
Other then that the Civil war is fascinating and I love it ^_^! Been to Gettysburg of course, and we stayed in an old house that was there when the battle took place! Was sooo great! My favorite battle is Picketts Charge (part of Gettysburg)
Blehh...I am really tired so there are probably a lot of spelling errors in here so please forgive me, I'll correct this later!
When you boil down the issue of "states rights", and spend enough time reading the writings and speeches OF THE TIME (and not some modern historian's take on it, much less any angry unrepentant type), it is about the ability to maintain free commerce in the slave trade. No poor white southerner had any stake in states rights other than what was fed to them by the elite, slave-holding class.
Every single issue for the cause of the American Civil War is tied back to slavery...one way or another, and directly or indirectly. The old 3/5 law, the fugitive slave law, the "states rights" issue, etc.
As to your question of whether or not a state can secede from the Union, the answer is no. Here is an interpretation I happen to agree with (scroll down on the page to have a look:
http://www.bessel.org/secess.htm.
Nullification, a feature of the antebellum arguments regarding secession, was a resultant ripple effect and debate, not a cause itself...and
certainly not the original motivation for Civil War!
