[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Calgaryborn

I have a book on great speeches someone compiled and it includes a speech on conceding from the union that a southern senator spoke in the Senate. His arguments were compelling. The southern States legally had a right to walk away from the Union. The Federal government overstepped the constitution and the principles of free association by sending the army in. I'm glad slavery was stopped but Lincoln broke the spirit of confederation to do it.

Seceding.

Lincoln's refusal to let that happen is, perhaps, the single most important event in American history.