The ‘States’ Rights’ issue was never a simple one, and the America of the 1850s was being torn apart by the slavery issue. The pro-slavery south was determined that the abolitionist north not bring ‘free states’ into the union. That’s a vast oversimplification but, in essence, the antebellum south was dependent on slave labor to maintain its agrarian economy which was extremely labor intensive. Southern politicians held strongly to the principle of the right of states to self-determination, with regard to the enumerated powers granted the Federal Government by the Constitution in Article 1, Section 8. Another oversimplification, but my purpose here is not to embark on a historical treatise.
The framers of the Constitution knew that they had a hot potato on their hands with the slavery issue. It’s why they skirted it. They knew that they could never get the support of the southern states if they addressed it. Unfortunately, it was a genie that was already out of the bottle. As the race baiters are fond of saying, many of the signatories, particularly from the southern states, were slave owners, though even at that early date many northern politicians detested slavery. They were men of their time. England and France had been slave-free for almost 50 years by 1850. You might say that the seeds of the Civil War were sown at the time the Constitution was ratified.
At this point, it might be germane to point out that muslim slavers have been active practically from the time of Mohammed, shortly after the year 600 AD, though the muslims certainly didn’t have a lock on the market. Anyone ever consider the origin of the word ‘slave’? The total numbers of enslaved peoples, predominantly of African origin, will never be known… however, it is in the multiples of millions. The total number of slaves transported across the Atlantic is said to be more than eleven million, though the number of slaves imported to the US was greatly curtailed by 1820. Muslim slave traders are active in sub-Saharan Africa to this day.
There has been much outright bunk out there about Abraham Lincoln and the slavery issue. The nutcases have a one horse argument that Lincoln was not the least interested in the slavery issue until his second term election. Lincoln was strongly in favor of ending slavery, by preventing new states and territories from entering the Union as slave states or territories. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was to have accomplished this. Obviously, later on such a gradual extinction of slavery became impossible with the advent of the war.
Fast forward to today and the US government’s refusal to protect US citizens from the depredations of illegal aliens and Mexican drug cartels operating across our southern border. It’s about time some of the states started asserting themselves against the ridiculous failure of the Federal government to perform their duty. The DeMarxist government feels that the only way to preserve itself in power is to allow, and encourage, a literal invasion of our country by a sub-group of largely illiterate, low wage earners… crippling states with their demands on services which were intended for citizens of this country. They see these people as automatic votes for the DeMarxist goody-bag of welfare treats.
Our out of control government in Washington is facing more and more states standing up and saying ‘hell no!’, alongside many millions of American citizens determined to take back our country and put it back on the path of Constitutional conservatism.
States’ rights are your rights… fight for them.
Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis
© Skip MacLure 2010
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