Week 4 Blog Post

Week 4 Blog Post

Comments on Ordeal by Fire Appendices:

The additions and modification that the Confederate States made to the U.S. Constitution are interesting. (McPherson and Hogue, A-1 - A-3) Since one of the Confederacy’s proslavery arguments was that that institution was supported in the Bible, they added the phrase “invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God” to the preamble. Also, they allowed a line item veto which was probably a reaction to the compromise bills over slavery such as in 1820 and 1850. Since the South lacked manufacturing for finished goods, the Confederate states did not want import duties. (Art. 1, Sec. 8, Par. 1) From my “northern” point of view, I think it is amazing that they would put in their Constitution that the government could not fund internal transportation improvements. (Art. 1, Sec. 8, Par. 3) They obviously wanted and expected that their society would be able to stay predominantly agricultural forever.

Since the slaveholders, in general, did not want universal suffrage even for white males and even stated that they were opposed to democracy, it is understandable why they would not want their president to able to run for a second term. (Art. II, Sec. 1, Par. 1) Incumbent candidates have an advantage in an election since they are already well-known. The Confederacy would likely not want their presidency to be a popularity contest.

Of course, they would write protections for slavery in their Constitution. (Art. IV, Sec 2, Par. 1 and Art. IV, Sec. 3, Par. 3) This is what they wanted the federal government of the Union to do although it did not. Therefore, the Southern states seceded.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis, in his inaugural address, denied that the seceding states were starting a revolution.  Calling it a revolution was merely an “abuse of language” on the part of the North. (McPherson and Hogue, A-4) Predictably, the Confederacy was unwilling to except any part of the blame for the sectional conflict. It was all the North’s fault, their “wanton aggression.” Although he kept referring to the secession as a peaceful action, he spoke of the possibility of war and the willing of the Confederacy to fight so many times that his speech had the effect of being a call to arms. He erroneously spoke of secession “as a necessity, not a choice.” (A-5) Secession is always a choice. The states called conventions to vote on whether to secede from the Union. When there is more than one option to chose from, voting represents a choice. The persuading of delegates by inflammatory language is another matter that was also by choice.  

Additionally, Davis naively thought that even if a war broke out, it would not affect crop production. Just because cultivation was not disrupted in the first month of secession, did not mean that it would proceed smoothly during wartime. Any reading of historical wars should have taught him that property destruction and depopulation of the countryside are likely.

President Lincoln was similarly naïve in his “Proclamation Calling Militia and Convening Congress.” (McPherson and Hogue, A-14 - A-15) He thought it was possible to re-possess the forts and any other Union property seized by the Confederacy and still “avoid devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country.” (A-15)

Vice President Stephens’ speech in Atlanta on March 21, 1861 seemed to contradict a key assertion by President Davis in his inaugural address a month earlier. Stephens explicitly referred to the creation of the Confederacy not only as a revolution, but as “one of the greatest revolutions in the annals of the world.”  (McPherson and Hogue, A-13) He was correct in stating that there had not yet been “the loss of a single drip of blood” (A-13) because his speech was prior to the first shots of the impending war fired on April 12. He spoke as if the revolution was complete with the drafting of their new Constitution.

Written by Molly Kettler