Abraham Lincoln and the Constitution
The Civil War is sometimes referred to as the Second American Revolution. This is a suitable description because of the tremendous impact it had on our economic, political, and social development. President Abraham Lincoln succeeded in keeping the United States intact during this transition where many men would have failed. The origins of this disruptive war can be found in the framing of the Constitution and the century old debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists over the issue of states' rights. The Founding Fathers of our society were, almost to the man, thoughtful, ambitious, well-educated and discursive people. To the Fathers it was clear, that government should be limited not only in the number of powers it exercised, but in the extent of territory it ruled. The small and local were preferable to the vast and national. If one state or local government should exceed its proper powers, citizens should be able to escape it without leaving the continent. In the 1798 Kentucky Resolutions, Thomas Jefferson said that the ?federal government must never be allowed to become the final arbiter of the extent of its own powers.? He felt giving all the power back to the nation would inevitably bring the United States back to
They disagreed with this move simply because they were not the ones in power to do it and they knew their era of influence was coming to an end. Southerners were fighting for self-preservation, and in losing the Civil War, they lost their way of life. A growing majority of the Southern states obviously resented the failure of their influence on American politics, and felt that they would be less threatened as a separate nation that would be focused on satisfying their unique social, political, and economic interests. However, in the formative years of the United States government, those who advocated states' rights often used it to protect themselves from a powerful government that didn't support their views. The South was trying to restrain the inevitable growth of the national government. In his struggle to hold together a crumbling nation, Lincoln took many bold and some debatable steps to achieve his end. In Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address he refers to the South and the issue of civil war by saying, ?In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. Thus, self-interest dictated policies. Dominion was sacrificed in the name of security and unity. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend. This was actually more than a states' rights conflict, it was a struggle between those who wanted to keep powers out of the hands of the central government and those who wanted to increase the power of the central government. As the President, Abraham Lincoln decided that the preservation of the Union was the most important goal. Nationalism requires the feeling of a common bond among the citizens of a nation. This struggle for the upper hand in government is what brought about the Civil War.
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