I wonder if any of these other folks would be guilty of "treason", too? Nancy ------- I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days. --Daniel Boone On Feb 23, 2007, at 9:00 PM, Clara Callahan wrote: > Doesn't Texas maintain her right to secede in her constitution? > Where's the Texan in this group? > > David Kiracofe <[log in to unmask]> wrote: I remember reading this > essay some time ago and agree with Kevin that > the question of perpetual union was not a settled one in 1861. Looking > at everything from the Dopctinres of 1798 to the New England > Federalists > in the 1805-1814 period to the Nullifiers in 1832 and the > Massachusetts > "personal liberty laws" in the 1850s makes it clear that Lincoln's > notion that the states were truly subsumed into one whole was not a > universally held one. I always thought it was a telling choice on the > part of the founders to depart from the assertion made in the Articles > of Confederation which aimed at a "perpetual union" -- the founders > were > content to aspire merely to a "more perfect union." Lincoln's > assertion strikes me as one of his great pieces of political > innovation > on a par with the new formulations in the Gettysburg Address. Of > course > in the end, Lincoln and his armies settled the matter of secession > with > military victory (and then there was a legal decision in, I think , > 1867 > that finally removed the legal possibility of secession.) > > > The essay is "The Concept of a Perpetual Union," by Kenneth M. > Stampp, published in The Journal of American History, Vol. 65, > No. 1. (Jun., 1978), pp. 5-33. It is available readily via > JSTOR, or in any good academic library. > > > > David Kiracofe > History > Tidewater Community College > Chesapeake Campus > 1428 Cedar Road > Chesapeake, Virginia 23322 > 757-822-5136 > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the > instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the > instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html