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| Joined: | Tue Sep 6th, 2005 |
| Location: | Texas USA |
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It can be said in general that northerners were more inclined to favor a stronger central government, while southerners tended to favor stronger state governments. I would venture to say that even in the middle of the 19th century, if asked where they were from, more southerners would name their state, rather than saying that they were: "Americans." Many felt no kinship to a faraway national government that they thought did not represent their interests.
I would tend to argue the other way and it was the fact that the central government was not strong enough for southern tastes that led to seccession more than any state supremacy on certain matters. Look at the Declarations of Seccession and it is a list of grievances against the Federal government and northern states for not enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act and protecting the institution of slavery. Other complaints were about the Federal govenrment not protecting the citizens from terrorists like John Brown and in our state not protecting the citizens from the Commanche. Other grievances included not protecting southerner's right of sojourn in northern states with their slaves and the Federal/northern govenrments not getting their abolitionists under control. In one case, there was even a complaint that Maine was allowing free blacks to vote in their elections (that was certainly not very state's rights loving of them was it?)
There was actually a very good essay on this point on this website a few years ago. I looked for it to post it but can't find it. Perhaps Javal knows where it is and can post a link.
Last edited on Thu Sep 6th, 2007 03:11 pm by David White