2006 Winning Essay of Dr. Wilt Scholarship

The topic for 2006 Scholarship was-

"Our founding fathers allowed for the repeal of the Constitution. According to what was in the Constitution in 1860, were the states that formed the Confederacy within their rights to secede from the Union?".

Colleen Dodge's Essay

Yes, the Confederate States did have the right of secession. When the Constitution was ratified, the states each gave authority to the national government to rule the states as a union. Based on the ratification of the Constitution by the 1798 Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in which the states freely gave authority to the national government, the states also have the right to take the authority back and rescind the ratification which legally allows the states to be free from the Union once again if they so desire (The First Wave 11-12). In order for equality to exist between the states, this right should apply for all states (The Avalon 25). The Confederate States saw secession not as a revolutionary act but as the right of ratification guaranteed by the Constitution (The First Wave 11-12). The Constitution is based on the idea that each state is “free and independent” and so the states are free to leave the Union (The Avalon 5).

The Constitution is a contract between the states and the federal government. Legally, if one party breaks the terms of the contract, then the contract is void. In this case, the southern Confederate states felt that the federal government and the northern states of the Union broke the contract so the Confederate States were free to leave the contract with the Union and secede (The Avalon 13). One of the most important ways that South Carolina, the first state to secede, felt that the federal government broke the terms of the contract was that the newly elected President Lincoln was in favor of abolishing slavery throughout the entire Union. He felt that, “Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,’ and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction” (The Avalon 22). The federal government had plans to work towards abolishing slavery. The Constitution recognized slaves as the property of the slave owners and to work towards abolishing slavery would be to try to deny the people of the southern states the freedom to own their property. This breach in the Constitution by the federal government broke the contract between the federal and state governments so South Carolina and the other states in which it was legal to own slaves were free to leave the Union (The Avalon 20-25).

To examine simply the meaning behind the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the ideals of the United States is also important in determining the rights of the states. During the American Revolution, it was illegal under Britain’s government for the colonies to rebel. At this time, the founding fathers decided that it was the right of the colonies to rebel anyway. If a group of people were not satisfied with the government, they can modify it or leave it completely. This was the precedent set by the founding fathers that the democratic government was built upon. According to precedent, states that are unsatisfied with the rights received from the federal government should have the right to secede, and that is exactly what South Carolina and the Confederate States did (The Avalon 3-7).

 

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