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Secessionist No. 16
by Brian McCandliss June 2005
An original essay written for the American Secession Project
In my article "In
my article "Were the States Sovereign Nations?"
- Secessionist Paper No. 6 I concluded that
the states were, indeed, separate sovereign nations under the law prior to the
Civil War. Since this time, however I have likewise come to a more-recent
conclusion, i.e. that, legally speaking, that the states are
still
sovereign nations under the law.
This is because the Civil War was federally-proclaimed as a legal
police-action to put down an unlawful rebellion, which it claimed was justified
under an alleged legal-claim to federal national authority over the individual
states. However since this claim was legally false-- and, more importantly,
since no laws were changed afterward to substantiate such a claim-- then it was
merely an act of Orwellian censorship, i.e. an act by government in order to
change the perceived
meaning
of the law via long-term totalitarian suppression of the truth.
As such, the current order of federal national authority over the individual
states, is simply supported by
repression--
not law. Rather, the law-- being, once again, unchanged from its original
form with regards to state sovereignty-- still regards each state as a separate,
sovereign nation unto itself (as stated above). Therefore, claims of the type
found at
http://www.americanpresident.org/history/abrahamlincoln/,
i.e. that "Union victory ended forever the claim that state sovereignty
superseded federal authority", are entirely spurious and fallacious; for the
question is one of simple historical fact,
not
subsequent military victory. And no amount of force or victory can change or
determine prior history, but rather can only suppress accurate readings and
teachings thereof. History may be written by the victors, but it cannot be
changed
by such--- at least not without time-travel.
In conclusion, therefore, the states currently exist, legally speaking, under an
order of pure suppression, whereby their true legal rights and status as
separate, sovereign nations-- equal to that of any other nation to be free
from coercion by the US government-- are censored via ongoing occupation, backed
up by threat of military retaliation for dissent or disobedience by any state.
Any serious discussion of "liberty" must recognize this fact concerning the
current state-of-affairs under which we live-- as well as to recognize that the
states are still
sovereign nations under the law.
Brian McCandliss [send him mail] is a business and economics graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, a law student, and a businessman in Detroit, Michigan
North American * Secession and Independence Movements
*Hawaii and Puerto Rico are obviously not part of North America, no offense intended
Active Secession Movements Around the World
One Nation Indivisible? A Study of Secession and the Constitution