Death of Jefferson Davis Remembered - The Christmas of 1889 Was a Sad Time in the South

Accessnga.com ^ | 11/19/07 | Calvin Johnson, Jr.

[SmoothTalker]

It doesn’t have to. Any American citizen who engages in active warfare against his country is a traitor by definition. And I don’t buy the noble states rights cause either. Remove slavery from the equation and the war never happens. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either lying or delusional. So i’m supposed to be sad that a pro-slavery traitor died and think he was a good man. Not a chance.

[wideawake]

Where does it say in the Constitution as it existed in 1861 that individual states don’t have a right to succeed from the Union?

The states that ratified the Constitution, in so ratifying it, acknowledged Article VI, paragraph 2:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

If the individual states are bound by the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, they cannot unilaterally abolish it within their borders and replace on their own authority.

They have ceded that supreme legal authority to the United States through ratification.

[AppyPappy]

How the Union treated him while he was there for two years is one of the uglier post Civil War incidents you’ll never read about in any highschool history book.

Too bad the Confederate Prison in Salisbury was out of operation.

[AppyPappy]

He also stayed in a house near Greensboro College. The house is still standing.

[puroresu]

a pro-slavery traitor

You just described George Washington in the minds of many people. The same PC sickness that is destroying the memories of Confederate heroes will soon be unleashed on the Founding Fathers. In fact, it's already happening.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

He, and many many others believed the South had a right to ‘succeed’ from the Union, based on their interpretation of the Constitution.

An interpretation which he learned at West Point while studying the Constitution from Joseph Story's gold-standard textbook (at the time).

[Doohickey]

...succeed...

I'm not the grammar and spelling police, but to quiet those who are, the word is secede

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

It doesn’t have to. Any American citizen who engages in active warfare against his country is a traitor by definition. And I don’t buy the noble states rights cause either. Remove slavery from the equation and the war never happens. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either lying or delusional. So i’m supposed to be sad that a pro-slavery traitor died and think he was a good man. Not a chance.

Ah yes, there's always one idiot on every COnfederacy/States' Rights thread....

[keat]

...gave in to political appointments for combat units with disasterous results.

As did Lincoln, to be fair.

[SmoothTalker]

He was a traitor to the crown. He was a patriot to America. As an American I view him as a hero. Were I a Brit in 1780 I wouldn’t. Davis was a scoundrel who should not be celebrated by anyone. An incompetent scoundrel to boot who was in a war about states rights to continue a deeply immoral system.

[Afronaut]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." " In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

[wagglebee]

Rightly or wrongly, both sides assigned nearly all blame to Davis and elevated General Lee to a hero-status shared only by Washington in American history.

[puroresu]

Kind of ironic, isn’t it, that one of the fruits of the Union victory was ratification of the 14th Amendment, which has basically been used to overthrow our system of government on a variety of issues ranging from abortion to Nativity scenes to homosexuality.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

As did Lincoln, to be fair.

If anyone was a traitor to the Constitution, it was Lincoln.

[SmoothTalker]

“Ah yes, there’s always one idiot on every COnfederacy/States’ Rights thread....”

Still enamored with the Lost Cause are we? I’m not that sentimental. The war is over. It has been for a long time. The South lost and the South was wrong morally. I’m happy the union won.

[silentreignofheroes]

You’re not American,,are you in Finland..??,you can tell us..

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Still enamored with the Lost Cause are we? I’m not that sentimental. The war is over. It has been for a long time. The South lost and the South was wrong morally. I’m happy the union won.

Good for you. Unfortunately, your happiness is based on knowledge appropriate to a fifth-grader in a public school.

[wagglebee]

It actually has nothing to do with spelling or grammar, “succeed” and “secede” are completely different words with completely different meanings.

[wideawake]

If anyone was a traitor to the Constitution, it was Lincoln.

LOL! In what possible way?

[Badeye]

‘How the Union treated him while he was there for two years is one of the uglier post Civil War incidents you’ll never read about in any highschool history book.

‘Too bad the Confederate Prison in Salisbury was out of operation.’

Thats basically the attitude that led to his treatment while detained at Ft Monroe, all right....(chuckle)