Online Bookstore: DaCapo Press The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government Book

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Anyone who enjoyed this book MUST also read 'America's Caesar' by Durand .... His book goes into much more detail over the question of state sovereignty. The right to secede wasn't questioned until all of the founding fathers had passed away and their personal reactions and testimony could no longer be given. Also, one much remember that in 1830, the transcripts of the debates at the constitutional convention were still 'locked' and were not available to the public. The right of secession was not only acknowledged prior to the 1830's, but it was one of the most sacred rights. William Rawle's (a Federalist even) textbook 'A View to the Constitution of the US' even held that states had the right to secede and this book was used as a textbook at West Point up until the early 1840's and is still in the West Point library to this day.

What changed things was when a man named Story wrote another opinion (again after all the founding fathers were dead and could no longer speak) that the Union was perpertual and that states 'drew their very breath from the Union who created them'. Even Lincoln himself, in 1850 acknowledged in a speech that states had the right to secede. But after succombing to Story's distorted and incorrect logic, he because a 'perpetualist' following the theory that 'once in there is no way out' (of the Union). This would be akin to marrying someone and there being no divorce or even separation available no matter how horrid the circumstances.

It is sad that this issue cannot receive national debate even in this day and time so that all can be aired - now that we have the advantage of TV and internet and all could hear and participate.

Read this book and the one I have referenced if truth matters to you at all. Jefferson Davis was Right. It is just sad that slavery was made the issue of whether or not to sustain state sovereignty.

President Davis shows himself to be a preeminent constitutional scholar with his in-depth analysis of the 10th Amendment and the inherent right of the states to secede from the union into which they voluntarily entered. While this book was difficult for President Davis to write, due to the hardships he endured during and after the war, we should all be thankful that he took the time and conducted the research that went into this well-written and very informative book.

There are a great deal of insights into the inner workings of the Confederate government, but this book is worth far more than the price of admission for the constitutional analysis, and for the way he explains how the war started, and the duplicity of the Lincoln cabinet during the critical months prior to the first shots being fired.

The only blemish on this edition is the ridiculous "introduction" by James McPhearson. Why someone was chosen to write an "introduction" to a book of this magnitude who has no understanding of the issues discussed by President Davis, and who wants only to make petty comments about the man and the cause that he fought for is a question to which there is no answer. This book would have been a far better package without the apologist nonsense that hides under the title of "introduction", and it's recommended that this part of the book be ignored by serious students of history and the Constitution.

This is an eye-opening book that will forever alter your perceptions of the events that gave rise to the events of 1860-1865.