Edward I for one have enjoyed your impute please don't stop. Nina ----- Original Message ----- From: "Edward Harding" <eharding2@cox.net> To: <CIVIL-WAR-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 1:02 PM Subject: Re: Fw: [CIVIL-WAR] Proper Education...Right to Secede? > The sources I primarily use are actual speeches, documents, etc., which I > have to say in certain ways ARE biased due to who they were written by, but > they were written by men who lived before, during, and after the War, and > showed what and how they thought during those times. I tend to show > actually what these people thought from their own words, not what someone > thought they might have said...examples: speeches from Lincoln and other > politicians, legal documents, etc. I may not be the best with words and > expressing my meaning, so I hope you don't criticize me too harshly. > > As far as the South's right to secede, I tend to tell about one segment from > the Declaration of Independence, which seemed to cause a previous war, a > rebellion, our Revolutionary War which gave us independence from England. > Were the South's reason's for seceding from the Union so different? "We > hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that > they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that > among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to > secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their > just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of > Government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the Right of the People > to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying it's > foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to > them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness....." > The South did not try to overthrow the Federal Government, they wished to > secede from them and form their own government, a government based on the > Principles of our Founding Fathers. > > In studying the economics of the time prior to when the Southern States > seceded, it's easy to tell why this happened. Even as far back as 1828, > Senator Thomas H. Benton from Missouri declared: "Before the Revolution [the > South] was the seat of wealth, as well as hospitality....Wealth has fled > from the South, and settled in regions north of the Potomac: and this in the > face of the fact, that the South, in four staples alone, has exported > produce, since the Revolution, to the value of eight hundred millions of > dollars; and the North has exported comparatively nothing. Such an export > would indicate unparalleled wealth, but for what fact?....Under Federal > legislation, the exports of the South have been the basis of the Federal > revenue.....Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia, may be said to defray > three-fourths, of the annual expense of supporting the Federal Government; > and of this great sum, annually furnished by them, nothing or next to > nothing is returned to them, in the shape of Government expenditures. That > expenditure flows in an opposite direction - it flows northwardly, in one > uniform, uninterrupted, and perennial stream. This is the reason why > wealth disappears from the South and rises up in the North. Federal > legislation does all this." > > I hope I haven't gone on too much, and again, I'm not trying to start a > debate. I'm just pulling my information from speeches, documents, etc., > from these times before, during, and after the War. > > Edward > > > > ==== CIVIL-WAR Mailing List ==== > To search our list archives since 1996, go to > http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > and enter Civil-War in the list name >