Buchanan Knew the Limits of Presidential Authority

 

John Brown was hung by the State of Virginia in October, 1859 after being tried on a charge of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, his intent being the overthrow of Virginia’s government and inciting rebellion within the State. His act of treason against Virginia was not an act of treason against the other States, and his trial followed the letter of the United States Constitution.  Read more at: http://www.ncwbts150.com/ActsofTreasonAgainstNorthCarolina.php

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman

North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission

"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"

www.ncwbts150.com

"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

Buchanan Knew the Limits of Presidential Authority

“Mr. [James] Buchanan, the last President of the old school, would as soon have thought of aiding the establishment of a monarchy among us as of accepting the doctrine of coercing the States into submission to the will of a majority, in mass, of the people of the United States. 

When discussing the question of withdrawing the troops from the port of Charleston, he yielded a ready assent to the proposition that the cession of a site for a fort, for purposes of public defense, lapses, whenever that fort should be employed by the grantee against the State by which the cession was made . . . [and] the little garrison of Fort Sumter served only as a menace, for it was utterly incapable of holding the fort if attacked . . . [and the attempt to provision it would be] readily construed as a scheme to provoke hostilities.”  

(Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Vol. I, Jefferson Davis, 1881, pp. 216-217) 

“Article 3, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution defines treason as “only” levying war upon the United States, or giving aid and comfort to their enemies. The “United States” is in the plural, signifying free and independent States that are united in a cause. The word “THEIR” is most important because it also signifies that treason is defined only as levying war upon “THEM” – the free and independent States, not something called “the United States government.” This of course is precisely what Lincoln did when he levied war upon the Southern States.”

Dr. Thomas L. DiLorenzo, Loyola College

“[Dr. Marshall DeRosa writes] . . . that Article III, Section 3, of the Constitution states that “Treason against the United States shall consist of levying war against THEM or adhering to THEIR enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” [DeRosa explains:] “This is why Lincoln’s invasion of the Southern States was the very definition of treasonous behavior under the Constitution.”

(The Long March Through the Constitution, C. Williamson, Jr., Chronicles, June 2014, pg. 27)