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Many think the Civil War was fought over slavery. This is not the case. True, there were many factors leading up to it, slavery being one, but at the heart of the matter was the question “Do states have a right to secede?”
Ever since the drafting of the Constitution people (not a few of whom were our founding fathers) have asked whether the “Union” is a Union of States or a Union of People. This isn’t an easy question to answer. In fact, it took much bloodshed before one answer finally prevailed over the other.
Jefferson and Madison wrote “The Kentucky and Virginia Resolves” which proposed that America was a Union of States. Didn’t, after all, the State delegations vote to ratify the Constitution, and not individual citizens? It’s “obvious” then that the nation is only a loose “friendship” between states. If one state wishes to dissolve its friendship with the others, it as a Sovereign State has the right to do so, just as one country may cancel an alliance with another.
Other people believed in a stronger central government where the will of one state was subject to the will of the “several states.” To them, America was a Union of People and the only reason for states was easier (federal) administration of the nation. A state doesn’t have the right to secede because to do so would interrupt intercourse with other states and ultimately damage the solidarity and well-being of the rest of the nation.
It was these conflicting ideas which fueled the debate. Calhoun was a senator from South Carolina who zealously believed in States’ Rights. In fact, at his support, South Carolina furthered the question. They decided to “nullify” a certain new tariff that Andrew Jackson (as president) helped push through Congress. Calhoun (and many South Carolinians) felt that since the tariff directly affected South Carolina in a negative way, they had the right to nullify or cancel the tax in the boundaries of their own state. In the end, Jackson sent an army down to threaten South Carolina. They revoked their nullification of the tariff and instead nullified Jackson’s presidential order to send down troops. The troops were withdrawn.
The question still remained: how far do States’ Rights go? That was not answered until April 13, 1865, the day that Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. Could the problem have been solved earlier at a lesser cost? Possibly, though I doubt anyone, even in hindsight, could say exactly how.
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