The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-04-20

| ton and resolved to force them to
remain even though this method OF
procedure might be contrary to the
constitution.
The states were free and indie
pendent" and were so recognized by
each other and by England in the
| Treaty of Paris prior to the adoption
Of the constitution.
1t is an error to suppose that the
Southern states rushed blindly into
secession and subsequent war. The
grave questions involved in such
course were discussed with intense
earnestness throughout the South.
The states, at last concluding that
their constitutional rights could not
be saved in the union, deliberately
withdrew. Their reasons may be
summed up as follows:
| Fourteen Northern states, by pass
ing personal liberty laws, had SCI
aside the constitution. These viola
tons of the constitution by North
ern states were held to absOlve the
Southern states from further obllga-
ton to the constitutional compact.
The republican party just coming
into power through a sectional vote
was pledged to disregard the decis-
ions of the supreme court in the bred
Scott case and to attack slavery.
The violent agitation of the aboli-
tionists intensified sectional feelings.
This persistent and powerful crusade
deeply incensed and embittered the
| South. Among the masses of the
people, North and South, sectional
antipathy supplanted the friendlier
| feelings of earlier times. Thus diff
! ferences in ideas, sentiments and in
| situations had made two different
people, almost different countries of
the North and South. A separation
was felt to be the logical outcome.
| The South therefore, withdrew from
the union.
The Southern states in withdraw
| ing from the union were seeking
peace, which they no longer hoped
to obtain in the federal union. They
did not desire war, and many belieV-
ed that war would follow. The South
held that the use of force by the
general government to keep states in
the union was beyond it's constitu-
tional powers. Nevertheless as the
states seeded the sentiment in favor
of the maintenance of the union by
force, if necessary, grew stronger in
the North, until it became a passion
ate purpose and desire. 1t was this
purpose on the part of the North and
acts on the part of the federal gov
eminent resulting from this spirit
that caused the war between the
states.
After the formation of the COnfed-
crate States of America the union
forces refused to evacuate all forts
in Southern territory. Major Ander-
son even moved his forces from Fort
Moultrie to a stronger position at
Fort Sumter Lincoln, in his inaug-
ural address, expressed his intention
of occupying all federal property in
the seeded states and collecting rev.
enue in their ports, To the South
this meant war.
In Buchanan's administration an
attempt was made to reinforce Fort
Sumter. This act convinced the South
that the federal government meant
to force a conflict. These reinforce
ments were unable to land and were
sent back North. After LincOln's in
auguration reinforcements were
again sent South. The Southern gov
eminent hearing of this ordered the
occupation of Fort Sumter. The
great war had begun. This act deter
mined the North on war. They were
ready before to force the South back
into the Union. Now they we're anX-
ious to do so.
Thus we see that the war was caus-
ed by the belief of the South in the
sovereignty Of the states, the right
to secede and the right to hold slaves.
The North thought the federal gov
eminent should be supreme. 1t had
come to hold that the constitution
was not a compact between the
states, but the supreme law over the
states, and that not only was the
union not created by the states but
that the states had been created by
the union. 1t had abandoned it's be-
lief in a states right to secede.
The South had threatened to with
draw from the Union if a president
was elected by a sectional vote.
Therefore, the election Of Lincoln
might be said to be a cause of the
war.
Both sides thought they were
right, and it is not in our province
to Judge. We might say, however,
that the war could have been averted
if a spirit of christianity and broth
erly love had prevailed. but it took
the war to cement the nation and
mould it into a strong centralized
governmental nation whose flag is
respected on land and sea.
Dawson, Ga. ARTHUR LEWIS.