NWA Letters to the Editor

When will 'real history'

of Civil War be taught?

I read Tom Dillard's March 30 column "Shooting ourselves in the foot." Here is my take. He may be a historian and a retired archivist. However, he has been taught in our federally mandated public school system (10th plank of the Communist Manifesto). First, let me state I am neither from the South nor the North and did not have relatives on either side of the Civil War (War of Northern Aggression). Three states -- New York, Rhode Island and Virginia -- during their constitution conventions reserved the right to secede from the Union. This was accepted by the other states. Article 4 of the Constitution states that if one state has a right, all states have the same right. In fact, several northern states threatened to secede when Jefferson was president. His reaction was "If you must go, go in peace." Jefferson understood that states had the right to secede.

Arkansas voted in 1860 to stay in the Union. However, when Lincoln unconstitutionally ordered 75,000 troops to go to Fort Sumter is when the final four states (Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee) seceded from the Union. All four states had originally voted to stay in the Union. They only seceded because of the unconstitutional act of Lincoln to send troops. The governor of Virginia wrote a scalding letter to President Lincoln stating the act of sending troops was unconstitutional and that President Lincoln was going to start a civil war.

As far as the state Constitution of 1874, Arkansas did not have much to say about what was in the State Constitution. During Reconstruction, there were five military districts. Each Southern state had to conform to the wishes of the North. The South was ruled by an iron fist dictatorship -- military control. Any Southern state's constitution had to be approved by the U.S. Congress! This is why the Arkansas Constitution is written the way it is.

Hopefully one of these days, the real history of the USA will be taught including what the anti-Federalists had to say about our Constitution. The Constitutional Convention was held in complete secrecy. The participants took an oath to not talk about the convention for 50 years. They were all dead before the 50 years were up. They were only assembled to amend the Articles of Confederation, not to write a completely new constitution. In fact, two members from New York state left and told the governor of New York they did not have the power to write a new constitution. It was the Federalists who wanted to write a new constitution giving more power to the federal government.

Mike Clifford

Bentonville

Commentary on 04/11/2019

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