Sometimes First Ain't So Good

The Declaration of Independence was written as well, a declaration of independence from the tyranny of a distant ruler ensconced in a throne in England. he new or cared nothing for the lives and new culture that had developed in the new land known as America. It was written when the newly coined Americans grew weary of the oppressiveness of the governors appointed by the king and his cronies. The grew tired of high taxation, tired of insidious rules that grew to regulate nearly everything they tried to do. The declaration listed the ways that the king was trampling on their God given rights. The second paragraph in that document contains these words:

"...That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive in these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government........"

Just a over a decade later many of the fresh states found that the US government was overstepping their constitutional bounds. They lobbied for the return of their States Rights and eventually invoked the above phrase and instituted a new government. Their premise was that of a contract broken on one side is null and void. The Government had broken their contract with the States so after all else failed the Southern States seceded and formed the Confederate States. The President at that time, Abraham Lincoln, showing complete disdain for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, caused a state of war to exist between the United States and the Confederate States. What Abe did was to declare slavery illegal. He was right in his thinking but wrong to use the Federal Government to institute this as it was and is not in the enumerated duties of the government. So Abraham caused a war that killed an estimated 618,000 deaths and hard feeling that would last for decades and longer. Good ol' Abe caused the slave to be free, or did he? The Emancipation Proclamation was only meant for the Southern States. In the North a person could still own another person. So you can see, in this case first wasn't a good thing.