I hold these truths to be self-evident…
From: rick.boswell@gmail.com
I try to be a "simple-minded" person. I love that adage "Don’t complicate, simplify". When defending my beloved Southland I, like many others, tend at times to turn simple truths into complex explanations in an attempt to "educate" Confederate and Confederate Heritage bashers. It’s my mistake. My heritage is based on simple truths and pure logic and requires no complicated defense.
Why do Confederate Bashers and haters exist? They had a simple choice. They have made it and now must constantly defend it or, Lord forbid, admit that they were and are WRONG. This they cannot do. The consequences, for them, would be much too terrible. Are we and have we been an "illegal nation", held together illegally, by force?
Was it right or wrong, legal or illegal for the South to secede?
No complicated explanation is necessary. A simple reading of the Constitution of the United States of America and it’s interpretations by Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and the other framers answered the question of that "right" long before it was exercised by the Southern States. "the consent of the governed" isn’t ambiguous. Later the Supreme Court, the highest court in our land, effectively ruled "ex-parte" on the question after the fact:
"If you bring these leaders to trial, it will condemn the North, for by the Constitution, secession is not a rebellion. His We KNOW that Chief Justice Chase, a New Hampshire native, had consulted with all of the other Supreme Court Justices on this question in anticipation of the ruling that they would be forced to make were Jefferson Davis brought to trial. It’s a shame, in a way, that Davis was not but I don’t think that this, or any other fact, would stop the "Confederate Bashers" for their real purpose is not to "bash" the South but to DEFEND THEMSELVES. For them to be "right" the South must be "wrong". Simple. Ergo, did the North have a legal or moral right to invade and conquer the South? What is the simple, logical answer? Who was the man who was primarily responsible for the invasion of the South and the ensuing war? The then President of the United States, of course. What was his stated purpose? "To preserve the Union". Was that position legally or morally right? Same simple, logical answer. Was Lincoln a great man and a great President or a vindictive tyrant who ignored and dishonored the United States Constitution and broke his country’s laws at will? Same simple, logical answer. Then why does "the great debate" still continue? Why are there those who deify Lincoln and defend his actions and those of Sherman, Sheridan and the Union Army carried out at his direction and micro-management? Same simple answer. They have two choices. They can acknowledge the simple truths of history, that the north continuously used and abused the South until the only honorable choice left to the South was secession. Lincoln then, under illegal and false pretenses, ignored and dishonored the Constitution and the laws of his country to illegally invade and conquer the South while illegally and dishonorably suppressing and imprisoning Northerners who opposed this illegal invasion. Nothing complicated about that. Were I a Yankee, a Union sympathizer, a supporter of big, centralized all-powerful government, and/or a supporter of Hamilton/Clay/Lincoln economics, I would have a simple choice; 1. I could admit that Lincoln and the North were wrong and illegal in everything they did, hence we have lived under an illegal "government by might" since 1865, and I SHOULD then, as a good person, strive to "right the wrongs" done to my (now) fellow countrymen (and to their Country, The Confederate States of America), or 2. I could insist that Lincoln and his minions were right, deify Lincoln as an infallible god, and staunchly support his every illegal act and deed. To justify my "right" it would be necessary for the South to be as "wrong" as Lincoln and my Yankees were "right" and, by logical extension, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and their fellow framers were wrong and their avowed political enemy, Alexander Hamilton, who urged Washington to be King and to rule the United States from a strong, centralized federal government was right. It always boils down to one simple choice. Was Lincoln, and by extension the Union he dictatorially ruled, right and legal or wrong and illegal? Learn the simple, uncomplicated facts and then make your choice. It will only make a moral difference, as since 1865 we have lived and, I’m afraid will continue to live, in The Land of Lincoln and Hamilton, but moral differences are important. Us Southroners ain’t that dumb; we have seen that "Might makes Right" and we’ve had no choice but to live with it. For a conquered people in a conquered and destroyed land we have acted, on the whole, quite honorably. In every war this country has fought we have contributed more soldiers than any other section of our country. My late friend Harold Keats who founded the Amvets after WWII and later became the president of the International Veterans Association composed of veterans from ALL countries and who assumed, when appointed by President Truman, responsibility for the upkeep of all American Veterans graves and graveyards, both here and overseas, always wanted to compile a list of American Veteran graves sub-divided by regions of the U.S., North, South, East and West to illustrate the numbers and the percentages of lives that Southerners have given for their country. Proud of the South and The Confederacy? You’re damned right I’m proud and I hope that you are, too. Forgive, maybe, but Forget? Hell! Happy belated Memorial Day. Yr. Obt. S’vnt,
Rick Boswell
