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THE ISSUES INVOLVED

of a Republic, stretching from ocean to ocean, and securing to its growing millions the dual blessings which spring from National integrity and home rule, we may well believe was ever before them. That one great element of the Southern people fought for independence and all the inspiring ideals which the term implies is true, though it is equally true that joined with them in the battle were states the dominant elements of whose people cherished no primal desire for separation from the Union, but resisted the authorities of the latter because of their convictions that its policy of coercion was illegal and destructive of the principle upon which the Republic had been founded. "The North fought to destroy slavery; the South, to extend and maintain it."

That slavery was the most potent factor in developing the conditions which finally precipitated war is true. That the two parties to the conflict joined battle upon the issue of its maintenance or destruction seems inconsistent with their solemnly declared purposes and promises, made at the time. President Lincoln at his inauguration proclaimed: "I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." This pledge of the President was but a reaffirmation of the platform of his party, and both were, in turn, confirmed by the declaration of Congress that the war was fought, "to defend and maintain the supremacy of the constitution and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several states unimpaired."

President Davis presented the attitude of his people and government when he declared: "All we ask is to be let alone that those who never held power over us shall

THE ISSUES INVOLVED

7

not now attempt our subjugation by arms.' And after three years of desperate war, he declared to the representatives of President Lincoln:

"We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for independence. . . . Say to Mr. Lincoln for me that I shall at any time be pleased to receive proposals for peace, on the basis of our independence. It will be useless to approach me with any other.""

That the people of America in the nineteenth century of the Christian era should have resorted to war in order to settle questions of constitutional and moral right must forever constitute an impeachment of the capacity for selfgovernment and the ethical standards of the men responsible for its occurrence.

The charge that the people of twenty-three states in four of which slavery was legalized arose in arms against their fellow-citizens of the remaining eleven and, despite the constitutional safeguards with which the institution in the latter states was confessedly surrounded, invaded their land, burnt thousands of their homes and killed tens of thousands of their citizens in a desperate determination to destroy slavery, is as compromising to American character as the counter accusation that the people of eleven states, with no existing menace to their constitutional rights in regard to slavery, resorted to secession and aggressive war in order to secure new guarantees for the safety of the institution. Charges so dishonoring to the American people should not be made and above all should not be accepted as true-unless compelled by the inexorable facts of history.

"The South fought for States' Rights-Home Rule; the North, for Federal rights-National Supremacy."

'History of the United States, Rhodes, Vol. IV, p. 515.

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STATE RIGHTS vs. FEDERAL RIGHTS

In the large measure of truth contained in this declaration lay the profound tragedy of the Civil War-a battle for the supremacy of one of two ideals, thus brought into antagonism, upon the maintenance of both of which, in their true proportions, depended so largely the success of the unique experiment in government established by the Fathers. In this union of states how were the rights of personal liberty and community life to be harmonized with the National ideals and powers essential to its preservation? Liberty and law-the consent of the governed and the integrity of the Government-how were these great ends to be assured? From the birth of the Republic, there were views radically divergent as to the character and powers of the government then created; and there were aspirations of devoutest patriotism alike yearning for the triumphs of liberty and law, though seeking these ideals by policies almost irreconcilable. Thus, upon the fair prospect of the new Republic, there lowered from its natal hour forebodings of strife and separation. With these warring ideals, intensified by divergent economic and political interests, there arose the forces which drove the shuttle of discord back and forth through the web and woof of the nation's life, and wrought the forbidding pattern of sectionalism, division and hate. What were the causes-what the issues-of that "strange and most unnatural" war? What were the motives which impelled the people of the South, utterly unprepared for battle, to risk the unequal contest, and never to desist until the hand of destruction had paralyzed the very heart of effort? What were the motives which impelled the people of the North to give without stint their wealth of blood and treasure; to marshal armies more numerous than those with which Napoleon confronted a world in arms, and,

STATE RIGHTS vs. FEDERAL RIGHTS

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for four years, to hurl them against the homes of their brethren?

Analysis is the foe of confusion and the friend of the light. Motives and methods, grouped and commingled, present difficulties of right appreciation which ofttimes vanish if separated into their component parts.

The commonwealth of Virginia bore a not inconspicuous part in the Civil War. It will subserve the cause of truth and assist to a clearer understanding of the complex conditions referred to, if we endeavor to portray the motives which impelled the people of this one state during those fateful days of 1860-61.

VIRGINIA: SLAVERY AND SECESSION

It is not questioned that among the people of Virginia were men of widely divergent views; Secessionists of the most ultra type, insisting on the state's right to secede, and demanding her immediate withdrawal from the Union; anti-secessionists of the strongest mould, denying the right of secession and protesting against its attempted exercise; Unionists who admitted the right in the state, as a desperate measure of relief, but denying that any such occasion had arisen; advocates of slavery who regarded the institution as approved of Heaven, a blessing to the blacks, and essential to the safety of the whites; apostles of emancipation who denounced slavery and called for its abolition; men who would make Virginia "neutral territory" between the hostile sections, and those who would fight for her rights, but "fight within the Union."

None of these elements, separately, spoke the sentiments of the majority, nor represented the controlling force in her citizenship. We shall accept as the true expression of the dominant element the returns from the ballot box, the enactments of her legislative and constitutional assemblies, and the deliverances of her great sons. Tried by these criteria, it may be truthfully declared that the institution of slavery was regarded with disfavor by a majority of her people; that they tolerated its existence as a modus vivendi to meet the dangers and