Reply #21: It's not accepted because it's not true. [View All]

[Kalyke]

It was over states rights - even if it really wasn't.

Let me explain:

Most of the men who fought in the Civil War were too poor to ever own a slave. Therefore, the powers that were - the people who could afford to own slaves had to come up with a "cause" that the average person could stand behind. That cause was states rights.

In the period between the American Revolution and the ratification of the Constitution, the states had united under a much weaker federal government - the Articles of Confederation. The Articles gave the central government very little, if any, authority to overrule individual state actions.

However, once the Constitution was ratified, it strengthened the federal government, authorizing it to use its powers to essentially hold the states together. In the event of any conflict between state and federal law, the Constitution resolved the conflict, for example. This was upheld in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland when the Supreme Court ruled that the laws adopted by the federal government too precedent of state law.

Then the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. However, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which provide a classic statement in support of states' rights. According to this theory, the federal union is a voluntary association of states, and if the central government goes too far each state has the right to nullify that law.

Many people - not all Southerners - agreed with the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. These people believed the state could better represent its citizens because the federal government was too remote.

So... that's what the powerful used to drum up support. It's a valid belief - even if you don't agree with it.


All that said: Doesn't this remind you of Bush and the Iraqi War? Take an event that many people believe should have never happened (9/11) and use the popularity of preventing another event from occurring to drum up support for a war that was not necessary. Plug in some holes by scaring people into believing the country we're going to war with has weapons of mass destruction and win the support of many in the nation because you've never revealed your true motive... which, in this case, was oil and pipelines.