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In the Shadow of Our Founders: Part Three

© Brian Tubbs

That the Founding Fathers viewed the states as "sovereign" political units is beyond credible dispute. The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the framers of the Constitution repeatedly refer to the individual states as "sovereign" and "independent" in their speeches, formal documents, and private letters. Since Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy's defenders rest their defense of the right to secede from the Constitution on this essentially incontrovertible fact, their argument stands on a fairly solid foundation.

By contrast, Abraham Lincoln's frequent assertion that the Union preceded the states is easily turned back by the realization that the colonies did not become "states" in the Union until the Declaration of Independence confirmed their status as "free and independent." As Davis correctly observes in Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, "When our fathers dissolved their connection with Great Britain, by declaring themselves free and independent states, they constituted thirteen separate communities, and were careful to assert and preserve, each for itself, its sovereignty and jurisdiction."

Prior to the Declaration of Independence, it can hardly be argued that the Union of the states was of any meaningful consequence. The states were not even states. They were colonies firmly aligned with the monarchy in England and under the protection of His Majesty's empire. Lincoln is correct that the movement toward independence sprang from a political alliance of the colonies, later "states." But any implication that this chronology means the states derived their sovereignty from the Union is intellectually unfounded. The colonies of British North America were self-governing communities of interest within Britain's imperial umbrella long before King George III came along.

Most debates over secession tend to revolve around these two points, the sovereignty of the states versus the timing of the Union and its consequential implications. These are often deemed the fundamental tenets of each side's respective argument. Seen in this context, Jefferson Davis's position carries significantly greater weight in terms of supporting evidence and is much more closely aligned with the thoughts of the statesmen who established the United States of America. Ending the discussion here, however, would be a disservice to both men and their respective causes. This is particularly so with President Lincoln, whose overall argument included much more than just his rather tenuous claim to a pre-Revolutionary War Union of states. And while Jefferson Davis's premise that the states are "sovereign" entities cannot be credibly contested, this does not answer all the questions surrounding the nature of that Union as established by the Constitution and understood by the Founding Fathers.