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Letters to the Editor Richmond Times Dispatch
Bevin Alexander makes several interesting points in Cool Heads Could Have Averted War. First, he correctly argues what seems rather obvious that the Civil War was not a Good Thing. Second, he seems to try to downplay the importance of slavery as a cause of the war but then seems to undermine this argument by saying that the first seven states seceded because they feared a move to outlaw slavery. Third, Alexander places much of the blame for causing the war on Lincoln’s lack of willingness to negotiate with the Southern aristocracy. He argues that Lincoln should not have forced the South back into the Union, and that it was, "this invasion of the South-not the protection of slavery-that caused four more slave states to secede." Actually, any Northern "invasion of the South" did not occur until after those four states seceded. Specifically, Alexander thinks Lincoln should have offered to have the United States buy all the slaves from the Southern aristocracy, and that this would have averted war. Assuming that war could have been avoided by buying off the aristocracy, which is not as clearly evident as Alexander portrays it to be, Lincoln still would have been wrong to do it. He would have been setting a dangerous constitutional precedent. For the same reason that one does not bargain with terrorists, presidents should not bargain away constitutional principles. The Civil War was not a Good Thing, but, as Alexander points out, it did produce a Good Thing in the end of slavery. Another Good Thing it produced was the recognition that secession is illegal and unconstitutional. Perhaps the Civil War was not inevitable, but after the first seven states seceded, Lincoln had no choice but to act as he did. He could not have done less and still be faithful to his oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Sincerely,
Robert S. Alley Jr | |||||||
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