U.S. vs. C.S. Constitution, Confederation, and War

Wendy King
GUT 271: Government
Mr. Roberts
Information Retrieval Paper


U.S. vs. C.S.
Constitution, Confederation, and War

....That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. (Declaration of Independence – last paragraph).

From the inception of the Declaration of Independence, the United States had been a collection of “free and independent states.” This is reflected in the wording of the United States Constitution regarding taxes: “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union” (U.S. Constitution, Art. I S 2).

Although the end result of the American Civil War was to make this loose collection of states one of the largest and most respected countries in the world, the Federal Government then turned a blind eye to rights guaranteed in the United States Constitution and waged war upon it’s own citizens. As we face the diminishment of our rights under The Patriot Act, it would do well to heed British Statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke, who said “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”

Among the rights in the United States Constitution that were granted, two recognized slave ownership; Article I called for the cessation of slave importation in 1808:

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. (Art.I S 9)

No Person held to Service or Labour [sic] in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, But shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due. (Art.IV S 2)

The U.S. Constitution also gave states and individuals certain non-enumerated rights: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people (Amendment IX).” “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” (Amendment X).

All of these Constitutional articles formed the basis for the War Between the States. The North’s primary source of income was industry. The South’s primary source of income was farming; a human labor intensive occupation that necessitated the use of slaves. From 1820 onward, the economic needs and political outlooks of the two areas continued to differ, widening into a chasm (Funk, Wilfred 1744; Andrews 6). Federal taxes meant to protect Northern businesses from competition by European businesses which imported their cotton from the Southern states caused price of cotton in the South to drop and the costs of manufactured goods to go up (Wikipedia, Tariff).

Taxes continued to grow along with the country and the Federal government. The rights of states to make their own laws regarding slavery were questioned. The issues continued to create divisiveness between the Northern and the Southern states. In November of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President to an already feuding United States (Funk. 1744).

Lincoln’s election caused further fractures between the North and the South. The eleven Southern states, (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee) seeing their Constitutional rights being challenged, called on their perceived states rights to leave the union of the United States, created their own Confederacy, and formed their own Constitution of the Confederate States of America (Funk.1745; Library of Congress 909-924).

During “Mr. Lincoln’s War,” as it was sometimes called (Wikipedia, Naming), the rights of individuals guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution were trampled. Homes in the South were taken over by Federal soldiers for use as quarters. Amendment III of the U.S. Constitution states that “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” Federal soldiers often searched through houses taken over by them, removing anything they deemed suspicious, destroying personal belongings, and keeping certain items as trophies; clearly violating Amendment IV of the U.S. Constitution: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,....” Yet the Federal army at the time seemed to have forgotten that particular section of the Bill of Rights when they took Martinsburg (then) Virginia. Belle Boyd was present in Martinsburg when the Federal Army took over. On July fourth of 1861 she wrote:

The Yankees were in undisputed possession of Martinsburg; the village was at their mercy, and consequently entitled to their forbearance; and it would at least have been more dignified in them had they been content to enjoy their almost bloodless conquest with moderation; but, whatever might have been the intentions of the officers, they had not the inclination, or they lacked the authority, to control the turbulence of their men (Boyd 63).

The doors of our houses were dashed in; our rooms were forcibly entered by soldiers who might literally be termed "mad drunk," for I can think of no other expression so applicable to their condition. Glass and fragile property of all kinds was wantonly destroyed. They found our homes scenes of comfort, in some cases even of luxury; they left them mere wrecks, utterly despoiled and mutilated. Shots were fired through the windows; chairs and tables were hurled into the street (65).

Even the home occupied by Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his wife, Mary Custis Lee, was not above appropriation. Immediately following the secession of Virginia in 1861, Federal troops occupied the land and built several forts on it. In 1864, while the war was still on, a requirement was made that the taxes on the property had to be paid in person. Robert was away at war, while barriers to travel (transportation difficulty, as well as the necessity for passes through areas that may or may not be granted at the whim of commanding officers) made the trip impossible for Mary. The property was put on the auction block and purchased by a tax commissioner for “government use, for war, military, charitable and educational purposes.” The cemetery was established by Brigadier General Montgomery C. Meigs in June of 1864 with the intent to “render the house uninhabitable should the Lee family ever attempt to return.” (In 1870, Lee’s son, George Washington Custis sued the Federal Government for illegal confiscation of property that was rightfully his by inheritance. The Supreme Court agreed in 1882, citing that the property was confiscated without due process. The property was returned to Lee who then sold the property back to the U.S. Government in 1883 for $150,000.) (Arlington National Cemetery website)

Art 4, S3 of the United States Constitution states:

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claimes [sic] of the United States, or of any particular State.

On June 20, 1863, Congress made the decision to take a part of a state (Virginia) and turn it into a new state (West Virginia) without the consent of the legislatures of Virginia and the proposed new state. The method of creation and the issues it raised caused several senators at the time to debate against the formation of the new state on the grounds that the action was unconstitutional and improper (Winston).

Anyone who studies history and government together can easily spot the manipulation of the United States Constitution by the Federal Government during the Civil War. Today that manipulation seems far away and historically quaint; but is it something that we should be more concerned about? There has long been a call to make the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms null and void. The Patriot Act has already taken away some of our rights to privacy under the guise of a “War against Terror.” Indeed, how many more “guaranteed” rights will no longer be guaranteed if we don’t know what they are or how close we are to losing them? We should heed Edmund Burke’s admonishment to know our history, so that we are not destined to repeat it.

Works Cited

Andrews, Matthew Page. The Women of the South in War Times. Baltimore. The Norman, Remington Co. 1920

Arlington National Cemetery website 23-May-06

Boyd, Belle. Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison. Vol.1 London. Saunders, Otley and Co. 1865 Rare Book Collection University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1998 23-May-06

Funk, Wilfred, Inc. “Civil War” The Universal Standard Encyclopedia NY. Standard Reference Works Publishing Co, Inc. 1956 and 1957 Library of Congress. 58th Congress, 2d Session Senate Document No. 234.

Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861—1865 Volume I . Washington Government Printing Office 1904 909-924 27-Apr-06

Wikipedia “Tariff of 1828” 2 May 06

Wikipedia “Naming the American Civil War” 2 May 06

Winston, Shelton Article “Statehood for West Virginia: An Illegal Act?” on West Virginia Division of Culture and History 23-May-06