2006 Winner 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?".

Colin Schultheis' Essay

As the battles of the Civil War raged on, much dispute ensued over a controversial question. Did the Confederate states have the right to secede from the Union? From economic and political standpoints, the Confederate States determined that they were undeniable justified in doing so. Yet scholars and politicians alike debated this matter time and time again. They believed the truth could only be found deeply rooted in the Constitution itself. The Confederate States stood behind individual sovereignty and the principle of state’s rights. In truth, however, secession was an ambiguous case even after examining the Constitution of 1860.

As fate would have it, the eleven Confederate States had all seceded by 1861. By this time, ardent Southerners were firmly asserting that the Constitution neither expressly nor implicitly denied them any right to secession. The Confederacy drew its support from the Tenth Amendment, which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (4) Hence, the Confederacy advocated that secession was an implied right reserved to the states, owing to the fact that the Constitution did not unequivocally deny it.

However, it seemed that the right to secede could be argued in favor of either side. Due to the Constitution’s failure to specifically address secession, no passage neither denied nor implied the right to secede. This, along with the Tenth Amendment, gave the Confederacy the leverage they needed to defend their standpoint. The Union, on the contrary, argued that secession was unacceptable because the Constitution did not imply it. In the eyes of most Northerners, the Union was indestructible, and thus the Confederated States were not within their rights to secede. In the end, the real justification for either side proved to be the bloody, four-year Civil War that made the question of secession indisputable.

The Constitution’s failure to include provisions against secession is far from ironic. The founding fathers of this nation intended to give birth to a unified commonwealth. They envisioned the creation of a perfect union, one nation under God that was indivisible. For this reason, they could have never foreseen such events as the secession of the Confederate States. The separation of the North and South proved to be the true test of the nation’s integrity. Further Constitutional amendments would later remedy this problem, but not before much bloodshed.

As mentioned earlier, the legality of secession was a highly debated subject. Although the Union challenged the right of secession, the Confederate States felt that they were more than justified. The absence of Constitutional recognition on secession, along with the Tenth Amendment, made it seemingly acceptable (albeit questionable) to secede from the Union. It would not be until the end of the Civil War until the issue would finally be resolved. To this day, the legality of the confederate secession is still debated.

Hosted by INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY SALES
www.itsavaya.com
847-639-0775