The South has always been willing to commit her cause
to the verdict of an intelligent people who will view it from
an impartial standpoint. But she is not, and ought not to
be willing for the garbled and distorted views of extreme
men, who will not give her people justice; to traduce her
sons, who contended for what they believed was right, and
make their posterity believe they were traitors. She is en-
titled to have accorded to her people the same honesty of
purpose which actuated those who fought for , the 'Other
side. Most of those who have written of that great strug-
gle attributed the main cause to the agitation of the slavery
question; but some go further and show that there were
great principles involved. "The Youth's History of the
War," by Rushmore G. Horton, and the comprehensive
work of Hon. A. H. Stephens go back to the very founda-
tion of the government and show conclusively that the sev-
eral states which ratified the Constitution , retained their
sovereignty, and there were rights and powers which they
never delegated to the Federal government ; that these rights
had not been respected, and that there were numerous en-
croachments and violations of the Constitution upon the part
of several Northern states. Mr. Stephens says : "The war
had its origin in opposing principles." He , further says :
"They lay in the organic structures of the governments of



6 History of The

the states. The conflict in principle arose from different and
opposing ideas as to the nature of what is known as the
general government. The contest was between those who
held it to be strictly federal in its character and those who
held it to be thoroughly national. It was a strife between
the principles of federation on one side, and centralization
on the other."

The first union between the states was formed under the
Articles of Confederation in 1777, during the Revolutionary
war This compact was entered into to make a closer union
between the states, and for their common defense. In these
Articles the states retained their sovereignty. 