Decentralization and Secession

Displaying 21 - 30 of 445
Wanjiru Njoya

The antebellum abolitionist movement ranged from peaceful abolitionist societies in the South to groups in New England advocating violence and bloodshed. Unfortunately, the nation‘s political leaders chose to end slavery through violent means.

Mark Metz

When constituting what a “well-regulated militia,” looks like, look no further than the first armed conflict of the War of the Revolution.

Wanjiru Njoya

Calhoun emphasized the principle that the states were sovereign and independent and not merely the creation of the federal government.

Stephen Anderson

One type of secession active in 2025 is when one or more rural counties seek to secede from the current state to join a neighboring state.

Wanjiru Njoya

Most modern Americans cannot conceive of states seceding from the US, but in 1860, the majority of the people believed secession was both legal and moral and saw the Constitution as permitting it. 

Wanjiru Njoya

When one thinks of Jeffersonian Democrats, the founding of the US comes to mind. However, the Jeffersonian ideals were held well into the 1860s by people who believed that the states created the union, not the other way around.

Wanjiru Njoya

The Southern secession from 1861-65 is portrayed as a “lost cause” by supporters and an act of evil by its detractors. Murray Rothbard argued that the Confederates were seeking freedom from political oppressors, just as their ancestors had done in the American Revolution.

Wanjiru Njoya

Gen. William T. Sherman‘s infamous “March to the Sea” is covered almost antiseptically in American history texts. Yet, Sherman‘s actions would have been judged as war crimes had he not been on the winning side.