Quotes

William Jefferson Clinton

"[the United States] can't be so fixed on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans..."--President William Jefferson Clinton, March 1, 1993 during a press conference in Piscataway, NJ source: Boston Globe, 3/2/93, page 3
"You know the one thing that's wrong with this country? Everyone gets a chance to have their fair say."--President William Jefferson Clinton 5/29/93
"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans..."--President William Jefferson Clinton,  USA TODAY 11 Mar 93

"When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans ..." President Bill Clinton, 3-22-94, MTV's "Enough is Enough"

The Declaration of Independence is no longer achievable. (Vice Pres. Al Gore?) 
There is no controlling legal authority. (Vice Pres. Al Gore)


"The great mass of people...will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one."   - Adolf Hitler

When asked  "Why not let the South go in peace?"
Lincoln replied: "I can't let them go. Who would pay for the government?"

Lincoln said: " ... in saving the union, I have destroyed the Republic. Before me I have the Confederacy, which I loath. *But behind me I have the bankers, which I fear

"There never has been an hour when this infamous Union should have been made, and now the hour has to be prayed for when it shall be dashed to pieces forever! I hate the Union!"

Wendell Phillips, Boston, 1849

"We confess that we intend to trample on the Constitution of this country. We of New England are not a law-abiding community, God be thanked for it! We are disunionists; we want to get rid of this Union."

Resolution passed in a meeting at Faneuil Hall in Boston, 1850:

"Resolved, That we seek a dissolution of the Union; and Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves the enemies of the Constitution, of the Union, and of the Government of the United States; and Resolved, That we proclaim it as our unalterable purpose and determination to live and labor for the dissolution of the present Union."

And still other Northern leaders wrote:

"A thousand times accursed be this Union!", William Lloyd Garrison, 1850

"Let us sweep away this remnant we call a Union.", Senator Ben Wade of Ohio, 1855

"Why preserve the Union? It is not worth preserving. I hate the Union as I hate hell!", Senator Langdon of Ohio

Abraham Lincoln is quoted in the Congressional records of 1847:
"Any people whatever have a right to abolish the existing government and form a new one that suits them better."

The American system of government was intended to be a republic of states, and the underlying principle upon which the republic was formed was that any people have the right to withdraw from a government they do not like and form one that better suits their needs and desires. This was the intent of the Southern states, to withdraw not to overthrow. The men of the South did not fight to win their freedom, they fought to keep it! To quote from the Declaration of Independence:
"... that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

"If Congress can regulate matters entrusted to local authority, the power of the States may be eliminated and thus our system of government be practically destroyed." (Chief Justice Day, United States Supreme Court)

When the states that comprised the Confederate States of America chose to secede from the Union, they did so legally, and formed an independent nation, which was promptly invaded by the United States of America. Our system of government prior to the War for Southern Independence was one of a republican system, wherein every state was a sovereign republic. The federal government was the servant of the many states, not the other way around.

Considering the sectional animosity before, during, and after the War for Southern Independence, if the Northern leaders had thought that they could have successfully tried any Southern leader for treason, they would have done so. They did not, because they knew that such a trial would lead to the public realization that the South had exercised a constitutional and natural right, and that the North had invaded a sovereign and independent nation.

Judge Black of Pennsylvania in "Black’s Essays" noted :
"John Quincy Adams, in 1839, and Abraham Lincoln in 1847 made elaborate arguments in favor of the legal right of a State to secede."

It should be noted that William Rawle’s book "View of the Constitution" was the primary book used in teaching the Constitution and was used at West Point until the war. General Lee told Bishop Wilmer (of Louisiana) that had it not been for the instruction received from Rawle’s text book at West Point he would not have left the United States Army to join the Confederate Army at the breaking out of the War between the States. He chose to serve the Confederate States army and his home state of Virginia in particular based on instruction given at the United States Military Academy. Some quotes from Rawle’s include:
"The state is the more important entity, to which citizens gave their allegiance, not some Union of states…"
"The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the States, and in uniting together they have not forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to one and the same people. If one state chooses to withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove its right of doing so, and the Federal Government would have no means of maintaining its claim, either by force or right."
"It will depend upon the State itself whether it will continue a member of the Union."
"If the States are interfered with they may wholly withdraw from the Union." (p. 289-90)

"Governor, if I had foreseen the use those people designed to make of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; no sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men, my sword in this right hand." CSA General Robert E. Lee

"All that the South has ever desired was the Union as established by our forefathers should be preserved and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth."
 Gen. Robert E. Lee

"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." --Thomas Jefferson


"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined"
- Patrick Henry

"The Constitution is not an instrument for government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government, lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
-- Patrick Henry

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