June 13, 2007
by Keith Simerson

Remember when you were taught the various reasons behind the Civil War? One of the many factors that led to this bloodbath was that the South wanted to secede from the Union and that, as we all have been led to believe, was a serious no-no; especially if you are a patriotic, democracy loving type.

But when you discover that the right to secede was taught to cadets at West Point prior to the Civil War it leaves you asking the obvious question of how it could have developed into such a huge problem with President Lincoln.

How could he have come to the conclusion that it would be more appropriate to enter into a state of war on our own soil that would cost many thousands of lives rather than finding a peaceful solution that would have saved us from a horrible four year conflict with the knowledge that he possessed of our nation's beginning that originated with our Founding Father's secession from England?

Lincoln would have been privy to the fact that Vermont had threatened secession over the Louisiana Purchase as well as Massachusetts over the Embargo Act of 1807, the War of 1812, and the annexation of Texas in 1845. That only makes this next quote by Lincoln in 1848 all the more interesting:

"Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion and you will allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you will allow him to make war at pleasure. If today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us,' but he will say to you, 'Be silent; I see it, if you don't.'"

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Was Lincoln saying that he was all for the President not having the power to declare war as given forth in the Constitution or not? According to our Constitution, the President only has the power to repel a sudden attack against us; Congress was the source of declaring war.

Was Lincoln issuing a self-fulfilling prophecy that he was seeing something that others were not seeing about the South 13 years later? Great numbers of Northerners argued back then that the South had the right to secede and wanted to let them go. Why did it have to come to war?

Could it have possibly had anything to do with the deepening financial ties between the North and South? Absolutely. Probably as much as it has to do today with our staying in Iraq. The energy resources in the Middle East being the top prize awaiting the victor.

I guess the control over those oil fields are not to be shared ... it is supposed to be either the West or the Asian bloc countries that's going to run this show and it doesn't matter one damn bit how many lives have to be sacrificed to get that control.

Or could it be that our President is seeing something that no one else sees?

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Keith Simerson [send him email] is a self-employed foundryman and sculptor as well as an Air Force veteran in the security field.  See his website at www.stonereproductionworks.com, and his blog at www.goodnevilguy.blogspot.com.