KaiBear said:
historian said:
Oldbear83 said:
historian said:
Oldbear83 said:
Doesn't mean the Constitution actually says what you claim. Courts have been wrong many times before.
And there is a ton of writing from some great minds saying secession is not and was never Treason.
You know, kind of why none of the Confederates was ever tried for Treason.
I never said secession was treason, but I did quote almost directly the constitutional definition of treason. It must definitely says exactly what I claim. Secession can still be illegitimate without being treason.
Article III, Section 3:
"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
The direct quote for those who want to know.
Yes, and that applies to people who were/are citizens or legal residents at the time of the offence.
NOT the case for the Civil War.
Again, the heart of why Confederate soldiers and leaders were never tried for Treason.
Given your username, I am amused you have lost the context of the history here.
According to the U.S. government they were citizens of the US and never left because secession was not legal.
You can keep making the same circular argument all you want but you're wasting your time. The position is only valid if secession is and it clearly was not legitimate to Pres. Lincoln or the government.
The soldiers were never tried for treason because they were granted amnesty. That was inevitable because of the sheer numbers involved and the need for the nation to recover from the war.
And supposedly even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court informally told Lincoln this.
Of course none of this really matters anymore. The north applied their far superior numbers and imposed their will on the South.
Chief Justice Chase did say that...
"If you bring these leaders to trial it will condemn the North,"
Chase had warned his former cabinet colleagues in July, "for by the Constitution secession is not rebellion." As for the rebel chieftain, the authorities would have done better not to apprehend him. "Lincoln wanted Jefferson Davis to escape, and he was right. His capture was a mistake. His trial will be a greater one. We cannot convict him of treason. Secession is settled. Let it stay settled."~ Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase (Burke Davis, "The Long Surrender", 1985,; Shelby Foote, "The Civil War," V3, p. 1035)
Certainly secession was an open question in 1861.....in fact for most of the early History of the USA it had been New England often threating to leave.
"Even after the
southern States had acted upon the old-time theory & seceded,
the North for a moment was not sure that they had acted beyond their right. It required the terrible exercise of prolonged war to impart to the national idea diffused vitality & authentic power." -Wilson
"The advocates of secession were not confined in our history to any one section. They had appeared in the hills of PA, they had met in convention in New England, they had adopted resolutions in KY, they had finally taken up arms in SC."-President Coolidge 5/30/1927