Jeff Davis

[Dr Meat]

Generals Faithful to our Sacred Union,

   Should we win this war and see the traitors run, ought we hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree, after a fair trial of course, or just throw him in the brig for a long time? Our Presidnet Lincoln is looking for Generals to be on a Commission of Military Justice and solicits your response one way or the other.

[Dr Meat]

General Hannibalbarca,

   Your legal analysis is well taken. Some New England States had once threatened succession early on in the 1800's. It was far from clear id a State could legally leave the Union. If the South had taken a legal approach through the courts to succession rather than leaving ad hoc with little preparation for war, including munitions and military manufacturing and build up of supplies of steel, bronze and such, then and only then might they have had a chance. A legal succession sanctioned by the Supreme Court of the time would have tied Lincoln's hands behind his back. Attacking Fort Sumter was the stupidest way to leave for it gave a perfect legal excuse for Lincoln to put down "certain combinations of men" as he termed the rebel traitors.

   One has to almost look at Jeff Davis and his cronies as  out of touch with reality as the leader of North Korea and his generals are today.

[mainiac]

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in..."

The idea of executing the defeating rebels would undo the very foundations of this great nation.  We are bound together not as slaves owned by a master but as free men united in the love of freedom and tranquility.  Time has shown that it is necessary to end the power of the slaver by taking away his slaves, not his life.

 

2 hours ago, Dr Meat said:

A legal succession sanctioned by the Supreme Court of the time would have tied Lincoln's hands behind his back.

A "legal" succession wouldn't have allowed them to steal federal property to fund their war effort.  Not even the most obstinate copperhead would have supported a policy of continuing to tax the north to furnish federal arsenals in the south if they had done something.  And inevitably they would face the unpleasant reality that most men in the south loved the union and the first round of secession conventions failed.  It was only after the rebels attacked South Carolina and forced battlelines that they were able to cobble together the votes for their rebellion. So your "legal" succession would have failed all the sooner as they would fight rifles with sticks and stones.

Edited August 13, 2017 by mainiac