Too late. The inflection point to have averted this timeline was back before the Civil War. The war wasn't about freeing actual slaves; it was about liberating a metaphorical one: the federal government, itself, from its onerous states' rights "masters". From the signing of the Constitution, all the way to 1865, the states had kept the federal government severely constrained, especially at a time in western history when the 'Nation-State' governmental architecture had supplanted the archaic and inefficient 'Kingdom' model, which was seen as insufficient for ruling over far-flung colonial empires. On several occasions in our early national period, our own government chafed at the restrictions imposed on its ambitions to join 'The Great Powers' in their jingoistic games abroad (example: the Monroe Doctrine was guaranteed by British military might, not U.S., because we didn't have a standing army--a key element of the nation-state).
The problem for the federal government was that pesky check-and-balance: the Reserved Powers clause, or states' rights. Washington, DC lawmakers knew that none of their representatives would ever move for an amendment to abolish a pillar of true federalism; and likewise, no state would ever issue a call for a convention of states in order to willingly divest themselves of a sovereign power. So how would the feds liberate themselves from such states' rights restrictions? Through war. By pressing the South relentlessly to free the slaves, knowing that it would be a humanitarian and socio-economic catastrophe, the North maneuvered the South into standing on states' rights in its refusal. Thus, two birds were killed with one stone: the nation was rid of the stain of slavery; but more insidiously, the feds were rid of the specter of states' rights, which opened their way toward unparalleled growth. By forever-linking states' rights with slavery no one, for the next 130 years, could mention the words: states' and rights together in the same sentence without getting absolutely shellacked as a racist, KKK-supporting, Southern, redneck, toothless hillbilly, etc.
In the interim, between 1865 and 1914, the damage to the Constitutional balance of power would be done. The feds passed birthright citizenship 14a (citizenship vs subjection, an element of nation-state architecture); the feds passed universal manhood suffrage 15a (a nation-state defining feature); the feds passed an income tax 16a (another defining feature of the nation-state); states lost the right to appoint senators 17a; the nation's border became permanently delineated (strong borders, yet-another element of the nation-state); and finally, they got their crown jewel of nation-statism...the standing army, which were the remnants of the Union troops who'd carried out the Reconstruction, and who were then moved out into the West for Indian pacification. In 1898, the feds got a standing navy, the 'Great White Fleet', as well as an overseas empire of its own through the Spanish-American War. It's now too late.
Too late. The inflection point to have averted this timeline was back before the Civil War. The war wasn't about freeing actual slaves; it was about liberating a metaphorical one: the federal government, itself, from its onerous states' rights "masters". From the signing of the Constitution, all the way to 1865, the states had kept the federal government severely constrained, especially at a time in western history when the 'Nation-State' governmental architecture had supplanted the archaic and inefficient 'Kingdom' model, which was seen as insufficient for ruling over far-flung colonial empires. On several occasions in our early national period, our own government chafed at the restrictions imposed on its ambitions to join 'The Great Powers' in their jingoistic games abroad (example: the Monroe Doctrine was guaranteed by British military might, not U.S., because we didn't have a standing army--a key element of the nation-state).
The problem for the federal government was that pesky check-and-balance: the Reserved Powers clause, or states' rights'. Washington, DC lawmakers knew that none of their representatives would ever move for an amendment to abolish a pillar of true federalism; and likewise, no state would ever issue a call for a convention of states in order to willingly divest themselves of a sovereign power. So how would the feds liberate themselves from such states' rights restrictions? Through war. By pressing the South relentlessly to free the slaves, knowing that it would be a humanitarian and socio-economic catastrophe, the North maneuvered the South into standing on states' rights in its refusal. Thus, two birds were killed with one stone: the nation was rid of the stain of slavery; but more insidiously, the feds were rid of the specter of states' rights, which opened their way toward unparalleled growth. By forever-linking states' rights with slavery no one, for the next 130 years, could mention the words: states' and rights together in the same sentence without getting absolutely shellacked as a racist, KKK-supporting, Southern, redneck, toothless hillbilly, etc.
In the interim, between 1865 and 1914, the damage to the Constitutional balance of power would be done. The feds passed birthright citizenship 14a (citizenship vs subjection, an element of nation-state architecture); the feds passed universal manhood suffrage 15a (a nation-state defining feature); the feds passed an income tax 16a (another defining feature of the nation-state); states lost the right to appoint senators 17a; the nation's border became permanently delineated (strong borders, yet-another element of the nation-state); and finally, they got their crown jewel of nation-statism...the standing army, which were the remnants of the Union troops who'd carried out the Reconstruction, and who were then moved out into the West for Indian pacification. In 1898, the feds got a standing navy, the 'Great White Fleet', as well as an overseas empire of its own through the Spanish-American War. It's now too late.
Too late. The inflection point to have averted this timeline was back before the Civil War. The war wasn't about freeing actual slaves; it was about liberating a metaphorical one: the federal government, itself, from its onerous states' rights "masters". From the signing of the Constitution, all the way to 1865, the states had kept the federal government severely constrained, especially at a time in western history when the 'Nation-State' governmental architecture had supplanted the archaic and inefficient 'Kingdom' model, which was seen as insufficient for ruling over far-flung colonial empires. On several occasions in our early national period, our own government chafed at the restrictions imposed on its ambitions to join 'The Great Powers' in their jingoistic games abroad (example: the Monroe Doctrine was guaranteed by British military might, not U.S., because we didn't have a standing army--a key element of the nation-state).
The problem for the federal government was that pesky check-and-balance: the Reserved Powers clause, or *states' rights'. Washington, DC lawmakers knew that none of their representatives would ever move for an amendment to abolish a pillar of true federalism; and likewise, no state would ever issue a call for a convention of states in order to willingly divest themselves of a sovereign power. So how would the feds liberate themselves from such states' rights restrictions? Through war. By pressing the South relentlessly to free the slaves, knowing that it would be a humanitarian and socio-economic catastrophe, the North maneuvered the South into standing on states' rights in its refusal. Thus, two birds were killed with one stone: the nation was rid of the stain of slavery; but more insidiously, the feds were rid of the specter of states' rights, which opened their way toward unparalleled growth. By forever-linking states' rights with slavery no one, for the next 130 years, could mention the words: states' and rights together in the same sentence without getting absolutely shellacked as a racist, KKK-supporting, Southern, redneck, toothless hillbilly, etc.
In the interim, between 1865 and 1914, the damage to the Constitutional balance of power would be done. The feds passed birthright citizenship 14a (citizenship vs subjection, an element of nation-state architecture); the feds passed universal manhood suffrage 15a (a nation-state defining feature); the feds passed an income tax 16a (another defining feature of the nation-state); states lost the right to appoint senators 17a; the nation's border became permanently delineated (strong borders, yet-another element of the nation-state); and finally, they got their crown jewel of nation-statism...the standing army, which were the remnants of the Union troops who'd carried out the Reconstruction, and who were then moved out into the West for Indian pacification. In 1898, the feds got a standing navy, the 'Great White Fleet', as well as an overseas empire of its own through the Spanish-American War. It's now too late.
Too late. The inflection point to have averted this timeline was back before the Civil War. The war wasn't about freeing actual slaves; it was about liberating a metaphorical one: the federal government from their onerous states' rights "masters". From the signing of the Constitution, all the way to 1865, the states had kept the federal government severely constrained, especially at a time in western history when the 'Nation-State' governmental architecture had supplanted the archaic and inefficient 'Kingdom' model, which was seen as insufficient for ruling over far-flung colonial empires. On several occasions in our early national period, our own government chafed at the restrictions imposed on its ambitions to join 'The Great Powers' in their jingoistic games abroad (example: the Monroe Doctrine was guaranteed by British military might, not U.S., because we didn't have a standing army--a key element of the nation-state).
The problem for the federal government was that pesky check-and-balance: the Reserved Powers clause, or *states' rights'. Washington, DC lawmakers knew that none of their representatives would ever move for an amendment to abolish a pillar of true federalism; and likewise, no state would ever issue a call for a convention of states in order to willingly divest themselves of a sovereign power. So how would the feds liberate themselves from such states' rights restrictions? Through war. By pressing the South relentlessly to free the slaves, knowing that it would be a humanitarian and socio-economic catastrophe, the North maneuvered the South into standing on states' rights in its refusal. Thus, two birds were killed with one stone: the nation was rid of the stain of slavery; but more insidiously, the feds were rid of the specter of states' rights, which opened their way toward unparalleled growth. By forever-linking states' rights with slavery no one, for the next 130 years, could mention the words: states' and rights together in the same sentence without getting absolutely shellacked as a racist, KKK-supporting, Southern, redneck, toothless hillbilly, etc.
In the interim, between 1865 and 1914, the damage to the Constitutional balance of power would be done. The feds passed birthright citizenship 14a (citizenship vs subjection, an element of nation-state architecture); the feds passed universal manhood suffrage 15a (a nation-state defining feature); the feds passed an income tax 16a (another defining feature of the nation-state); states lost the right to appoint senators 17a; the nation's border became permanently delineated (strong borders, yet-another element of the nation-state); and finally, they got their crown jewel of nation-statism...the standing army, which were the remnants of the Union troops who'd carried out the Reconstruction, and who were then moved out into the West for Indian pacification. In 1898, the feds got a standing navy, the 'Great White Fleet', as well as an overseas empire of its own through the Spanish-American War. It's now too late.
Too late. The inflection point to have averted this timeline was back before the Civil War. The war wasn't about freeing actual slaves; it was about liberating a metaphorical one: the federal government from their onerous states' rights "masters". From the signing of the Constitution, all the way to 1865, the states had kept the federal government severely constrained, especially at a time in western history when the 'Nation-State' governmental architecture had supplanted the archaic and inefficient 'Kingdom' model, which was seen as insufficient for ruling over far-flung colonial empires. On several occasions in our early national period, our own government chafed at the restrictions imposed on its ambitions to join 'The Great Powers' in their jingoistic games abroad (example: the Monroe Doctrine was guaranteed by British military might, not U.S., because we didn't have a standing army--a key element of the nation-state).
The problem for the federal government was that pesky check-and-balance: the Reserved Powers clause, or *states' rights'. Washington, DC lawmakers knew that none of their representatives would ever move for an amendment to abolish a pillar of true federalism; and likewise, no state would ever issue a call for a convention of states in order to willingly divest themselves of a sovereign power. So how would the feds liberate themselves from such states' rights restrictions? Through war. By pressing the South relentlessly to free the slaves, knowing that it would be a humanitarian and socio-economic catastrophe, the North maneuvered the South into standing on states' rights in its refusal. Thus, two birds were killed with one stone: the nation was rid of the stain of slavery; but more insidiously, the feds were rid of the specter of states' rights, which opened their way toward unparalleled growth. By forever-linking states' rights with slavery no one, for the next 130 years, could mention the words: states' and rights together in the same sentence without getting absolutely shellacked as a racist, KKK-supporting, Southern, redneck, toothless hillbilly, etc.
In the interim, between 1865 and 1914, the damage to the Constitutional balance of power would be done. The feds passed birthright citizenship 14a (citizenship vs subjection, an element of nation-state architecture); the feds passed universal manhood suffrage 15a (a nation-state defining feature); the feds passed an income tax 16a (another defining feature of the nation-state); states lost the right to appoint senators 17a; the nation's border became permanently delineated (strong borders, yet-another element of the nation-state); and finally, they got their crown jewel of nation-statism...the standing army, which were the remnants of the Union troops who'd carried out the Reconstruction, and who were then moved out into the West for Indian pacification. It's now too late.