Power Shift, Part 3: The Civil War

 

“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. “

President Abraham Lincoln

Image: the surrender at Appomattox.

Abstract: The Civil War put the nails into the coffin of state supremacy. After the war, the federal government clearly had the preponderance of the power balance between states and the federal government.

The Civil War was not the first time the Union almost broke apart. During the War of 1812, New England states threatened to succeed. They thought they endured the brunt of the war and the war took a huge economic toll on them, since trade with Great Britain and elsewhere was critical to their economies. In fact, there was also consideration of succession in 1786.

While the focus here is not about the causes of the Civil War, lord knows there is enough debate on that. One cause was states’ rights. I honestly cannot say how important it was, but it was a cause. And the end of the Civil War hammered the nails into the coffin of states’ rights. If the war did nothing else, it proved the primacy of the federal government. The federal government even suspended habeas corpus during the war and vigorously prosecuted the war to ensure the survival of the Union. And after the war, the federal government reconstructed the South and brought them back into the Union as states.

After the war, the US approved several key Constitutional amendments that affect what is happening in the US today.

AMENDMENT XIII – Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.

Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was superseded by the 13th amendment.

Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

AMENDMENT XIV – Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of the 14th amendment.

Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2.
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age,* and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

*Changed by section 1 of the 26th amendment.

AMENDMENT XV – Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.

Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude–

Section 2.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

The 14^th Amendment allows the so-called
“anchor babies”. While the intent was to protect the rights of freed slaves, it has far-reaching ramifications in the debates today. It allows children of illegal immigrants to be US citizens automatically if they are born in the US. The 15^th Amendment provides the right to vote for all male citizens. The 19^th Amendment extended this right to women. Note the language is interesting given today’s debates on sexual identity, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

Before these amendments, the states determined the criterion for the electorate. While these amendments were critical to the rights of freed slaves, they further eroded the rights of states and helped to ensure the primacy of the federal government. They were a key part of the Civil Rights Era and Great Society covered in part 7.

Series Outline

Part 1: Overview of the Inflection Points

Part 2: Judicial Review

Part 3: The Civil War

Part 4: The Spanish-American War, the American Empire, and Progressivism

Part 5: The New Deal

Part 6: World War II

Part 7: The Great Society

Part 8: Concluding Thoughts