JAMES W. KING: Secession was legal in the 1800s

My recent article titled “Lee epitome of Southern gentleman” resulted in disparaging comments in The Squawkbox.

Quotes from Northern men document that they considered the Lincoln administration corrupt. Their quotes also document that Lincoln invaded the South to protect the Tariff Tax, not to ban slavery. Documented facts and quotes also prove that secession was legal and that Southerners were not traitors.

Northern financier and banker J.P. Morgan said, “I supported President Lincoln but I see my mistake. I visited Washington, D.C., and saw the corruption of the administration. The war is not for the preservation of the Constitution and Union but for politicians and government contractors.” Lysander Spooner, prominent Massachusetts lawyer, legal scholar, and abolitionist, said, “The principle on which the war was waged by the North was that men may be compelled to submit to a government they do not want and resistance makes them traitors and criminals.”

Lincoln made a speech in Congress on Jan. 12, 1848, that secession is a most valuable and sacred right. In 1860, he reversed his opinion because he did not want to lose the annual $60-70 million from the Southern states from an unfair sectional tariff tax. When Virginia, New York and Rhode island joined the union, they specifically reserved the right of secession. All early attempts were by New England states in 1803 and 1814. On Feb.15, 1833, Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster stated, “If the Union was formed by the accession of the union of states, then the union may be dissolved by the secession of states.” Military cadets at West Point were taught from “Rawles View of the Constitution” that secession was legal.

Salmon P. Chase, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, confirmed in 1865 and again in 1867 that secession was legal in 1860-1861. “Should you persist in your endeavor to bring to trial any of the former representatives of the Confederate government or military personnel on treason charges, that which the North won on the battlefield will be lost in court. Secession is not a rebellion.” Secession was legal under the 10th Amendment.

JAMES W. KING

Albany