The rights identified in the Declaration of Independence are eternal principles that have always existed. The right to alter or abolish a government is one of our unalienable rights,
In 1776, the British Colonists exercised their right to secede from Great Britain. When the King and Parliament failed to recognize their petition, the result was the American Revolution.
In 1861 seven of the Southern States exercised the same right when they seceded from the United States. Lincoln's refusal to recognize the right of the states to secede, he started a war to prevent the southern states from leaving the Union.
If the 13 colonies had the lawful right to secede from Great Britain in 1776, was it wrong for the 11 southern states to secede from the United States in 1861?
The Constitution is a contract between the states and whenever a contract is violated the contract becomes null and void. At the time they seceded the population of the south represented approximately 30% of the nation's total population, but were paying 80% of all of the tax revenue.
According to the Constitution taxes are to be equally apportioned among the states, The Civil War was not a civil war, it was the Second War for American Independence.
The Civil War was not a war between the states, it was a war against the states.
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President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States order the bombardment of Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Then in retaliation, President Abraham Lincoln invaded Virginia.
If secession was lawful, the South Carolina have a right to reclaim Fort Sumter from the Federal government? If secession was unlawful, the action taken by Lincoln was appropriate.
Davis only did that in response to Lincoln boldly ordering the delivery and complete re-stocking of supplies, weapons and ammo to Ft. Sumter as a way to antagonize the south into battle, knowing ahead of time that this would be interpreted as an act of aggression and a call to war. So Lincoln intentionally started that whole thing. PERIOD!
I may not agree with everything you say but this is a fact. There is no doubt the founders believed it was a natural or god-given right to abolish your government and Institute new government if the people believe it has become tyrannical.
In the 1850's there was a big conflict between keeping our country the way it was founded, as a group of sovereign states engaged in a union, or military Alliance to protect the people and provide for defense.
The Lincoln Administration wanted to evolve into a powerful central government controlling all of the states. This was a horrible mistake by the Republicans. They should have stuck with the Emancipation goal instead of destroying Liberty.
We were the freest country on America and the final step needed was to legally extend these rights to all people; something the Democrat Party blocks to this day.
At first they were only trying to prevent black people from gaining protection of their rights. Then the Democratic Party fought to prevent women from having the right to vote and now they are fighting to prevent the youngest humans among us from even having the right to life. Nothing changes.
Today's Congress is apparently just as full of brainless wonders as the Congress was in 1861. It is very hard to believe the elected creatures of this Country are so stupid and brainless!
Now is the time for the PEOPLE to stand up and remove these idiots and return this Country to its original Constitution!
Get back the original and properly approved, 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Lawyers are the biggest issue the American PEOPLE face; remove them for government forever!
THINKIN' OUT LOUD. Geographically, it was a "war between the States", but, more correctly, and as Keith pointed out, it was an invasion by the Northern States against a sovereign, independent nation, the CSA, which had ever right to break away. Am sure our founders rolled over in their graves when the North perpetrated this incredibly unjust, unconstitutional invasion. Lincoln deliberately baited S. Carolina into firing the first shots (in which no one was killed), this in order to fan enthusiasm for a war which was very unpopular in the North. Most Americans in that period viewed the natural right of secession as a foregone conclusion, not a pretext for war. Though a natural right no different than rebellion or breathing, its also very important to note that secession is not prohibited in the Constitution; thus, secession, like countless other powers, is both a natural and constitutional right (10th Amendment) of the States. (For the scoffers out there, ditch the revisionist blinders and read the 9th and 10th Amendments. Not rocket science.). Secession, which can be pulled off peacefully in this day and age, will lead to the seceding States either forming a separate nation among themselves or a series of closely allied republican sovereignties. My guess is that, from a practical security standpoint, they would want to explore the possibility of restoring constitutional order on a continental level and return as sovereign States to a "voluntary union of States" predicated on the principle of dual sovereignty, which was the founders' plan in the first place; however, if those States which chose not to secede morph into ideological basket cases in conflict with fundamental constitutional republican principles, thus rendering themselves unwilling to agree on the restoration of a union tethered to first principles, then there can be only one sensible outcome: the former USA will once again be comprised of two sovereign nations, hopefully with sufficient interests in common to be militarily allied. That latter hope is just that.
I agree that two sovereign nations will exists again at some point but not until the American people pf both nations get their stuff together and rid ourselves of the corporation created by the lawyers for the benefit of the lawyers. This is the primary reason for bringing back the original 13th Amendment, to rid these two nations of the corrupt and enslaving lawyers.
Keep the faith, the Southern sovereign nation will rise up once again and we will be without the corrupt and enslaving lawyers.