Henry Clay Dean as depicted by Mark Twain in Life on the Mississippi
That
Southern State governors and legislatures did not authorize federal
troops to enter their sovereign borders is true, and of the ensuing war
begun by Lincoln, the author below writes that “never was there such a
medley of tragedy and farce, murder and mockery . . . and the most
ridiculous government follies.” The source of this passage is available
in reprint form from www.confederatereprint.com)
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
A Monarchy in Everything But Name
The War Debt is Unconstitutional:
“By what authority did [President Lincoln] destroy State government?
“The
United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican
form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion,
and, on application of the Legislature, from domestic violence.” United
States Constitution, Article IV, Sec. 4.
What
Governor of what State applied to the President to protect them from
domestic violence? On the contrary, the President asked the Governors of
Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri, and Kentucky, to do this, they
indignantly declined the work of butchery proposed; the President had no
right to invade any State.
There
was no domestic violence; the operation of law was unclogged until the
President commenced the work of disintegration. There were no changes
made in the State laws and State constitutions, which were not made in
conformity with the organic laws.
By
what authority did the President imprison the Legislature of Maryland?
Incarcerate Judges of the several States of the Union?
“The
judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to
any suit of law or equity, commenced or to be prosecuted against one of
the United States by citizens of another State or by subjects of a
foreign power.” Amendment XI to the Constitution.
How
much less the right to wage war against a State. What may not be done
peacefully, may not be forcibly done. Judgment always preceded
execution. A war levied against a State is unconstitutional. A debt
contracted for such purpose is likewise unconstitutional. No such war
could grow out of the Constitution, nor the debt be of valid obligation.
The
people are not bound by the Constitution to pay this debt, because it
was entirely unauthorized by the Constitution. It was created in
violation of the Constitution, for the purpose of overthrowing the
Constitution.
The
war was waged in violation of the theory of our government . . . to
destroy the republican system. In its stead was a monarchy in everything
but the name, in which the President was guarded in the style of the
Czar and Sultan, with all the brutality of the one and the pomp of the
other; with all of the trappings of monarchy and the violence and the
violence of despotism.
With
the overthrow of our system . . . and the adoption of the imperial
style and military guard, the most intimate friend of Washington,
Jefferson or Monroe, would have entirely failed to recognize the old an
familiar forms that gave us characteristic distinction everywhere.”
(Crimes of the Civil War, Judge Henry Clay Dean, Innes & Company, 1868, pp. 206-207)
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