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I want to offer this up for consideration relative to the governmental assumption of states rights, and even the rights of individuals, both directly and by extension, and though I try very hard to have faith in the system, Mr Quinn makes frightening sense. I got this from his website, WWW.Gunblasts.com, and it is his dissertation, with no input or editing from myself, and in it's entirety. Examine it and see if you think that the process the Union took relative to the rights of the States has a resounding thread in it's activities relative to our rights now. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

The Schoolyard Bully and "Assault Weapons"

by Jeff Quinn

September 15, 2004

Papers and wires on this date in 1861 throughout the nation were hot with reports that yesterday, 9 Jan., 1861, the state of Mississippi, the wealthiest of States in the Union passed its own ordinance of secession!  The MS Congressional delegation, lead by its favorite son, Jefferson Davis, declared the results of the vote and would be a part of the U.S. Congress no more.  Mississippi was itself the wealthiest State in 1861 and had a very good education system, with several military schools.  With its costal ports and long border to the vital Mississippi River commerce was especially good in MS and its larger cities such as Vicksburg were wealthy and enjoyed easy trade with Northern businesses.  In fact, Vicksburg and other such trade centers in the State were not at all pleased to be forced into a state of animosity with the source of much of their wealth.  Vicksburg was, for the most part, pro-Union as the State seceded.

News today began ringing out across the Nation that the State of Florida, in a Talahassee convention vote of 62 to 7, overwhelmingly elected to pass its own ordinance of secession from the Union, declaring itself a free and sovereign nation.  Celebrations erupted in towns and cities across the State and on the following day the delegation held a ceremony on the State’s capital steps to formally sign the ordinance.  Some ladies, in a rapid act heated by patriotic feelings quickly designed and sewed a new flag which was presented to the Governor at the State capitol on 11 Jan., 1861.  It was similar to the US flag except it had no blue field and the stripes were alternated red, white and blue.  The field was white and had 3 large stars, one for each of the newly freed States, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida.  Sewn across the top of the blank field with 3 stars was the statement: “THE RIGHTS OF THE SOUTH AT ALL HAZARDS!”

On 11 Jan., 1861, Alabama passed its own ordinance of secession in a vote of 61-39.  In the days before the vote, the delegates expected the outcome that received on the 11th and had quietly collected some AL militia cannon to the the statehouse where the vote was to be held.  As soon as the vote was taken, and the results known, the word was shouted out of the building and the cannons which had already been loaded with blank charges roared the new to the city and great cheers went up all across the city.  News spread like wildfire as telegraph wires and riders raced the news across AL and into the rest of the country.  The news was published in the "Harper's Weekly" and other newspapers the next day.  This issue was more hotly contested in AL than in the previous 3 states to have seceded, but there was no doubt that the AL delegates passed the ordinance with the will of AL.  On the same day that the ordinance was passed, ladies presented a 2-sided blue flag to the delegation.  One side had “Lady Liberty” standing with a flag saying “ALABAMA” in her left hand held aloft and a drawn sword held downward in her right hand.  Above her was sewn the statement: “INDEPENDENT NOW AND FOREVER”.  On the reverse was a sewn cotton and serpent with the Latin motto: “NOLI ME TANGRE” (Touch Me Not”).  AL’s ordinance went further to invite delegates of the other seceded States as well as other Slave-states to meet their delegates at Montgomery, AL on 4 Feb., 1861 for the purpose to discussing entering into a confederation “for our common peace and security.”

On 18 Jan., 1861 a test-vote in Georgia was held to determine what still needed to be done to pass an ordinance of secession in the State.  The vote was solidly pro-secession, so the ordinance was finalized and the official vote was held at the State House on 19 Jan.  News on the 20th raced all across the States, seceeded and united that the entire "Deep-South" was united in secession.  What had begun with South Carolina had been completed across the Deep South as of tis date and the rise of a viable Confederacy had been born with seceeded States connected, border to border from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.  Georgia was the 2nd largest State east of the Mississippi, only slightly smaller than Virginia.  It had a very good rail system that spoked from Atlanta, a large wealthy inland city.  It had a coast directly on the Atlantic with good ports, and had easy river connection to the Gulf of Mexico as well.  There was no doubt as of this date on either side of the arguement that the seceeded States did not intend to come back peaceably to the Union.

GEORGIA ORDINANCE OF SECESSION

We the people of the State of Georgia in Convention assembled do declare and ordain and it is hereby declared and ordained that the ordinance adopted by the State of Georgia in convention on the 2nd day of Jany. in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the constitution of the United States of America was assented to, ratified and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the general assembly of this State, ratifying and adopting amendments to said constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.

We do further declare and ordain that the union now existing between the State of Georgia and other States under the name of the United States of America is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Georgia is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State.

The 34th Star added:

On 29 Jan., 1861, following long months of debates largely centering over the slavery issue, the Federal Gov't admitted the territory of Kansas into the United States as its 34th State.  This vote was of course taken minus the legislators of the seceeded States which, accoridng to the Federal arguement, were still a part of the Federal Union no matter what the seceeded States thought.  The lack of their votes hence should have stopped the admission of Kansas if the Federal Gov't really believed that the seceeded States were supposed to be there, but the admission of Kansas insured another United State on the side of the taxed and represented States in the Federal Gov't at the critical time of January and February, 1861.  The admission of KS also gave a jolt of patriotic morale boosting to the pro-Union sympathies while also acting as a slap in the faces of the slave-holding States that had not seceeded.

The National Flag was to carry 33 Stars for several months before 34-star versions appeared, and both styles remained in service throughout the War.

A free Republic once more!

On 1 Feb., 1861 Texas voted on the secession issue.  The addition of Kansas as a free state was on the minds of many and Texas voted to secede.  But, there were sizable portions that were adamantly against secession and about 25% voted against secession.  These were mostly the German-imigrants of the hill counties and the upper counties that were largely populated with migrants from the upper South States of MO, TN, KY and AR that were themselves still in favor of remaining with the Union.  Texas's Governor appointed men to start working with the Federal authorities to transfer ownership of Federal installations into the posession of the Republic of Texas.  The Federal authorities were not interested in this idea...