After four years of Union campaigning, Richmond fell in April 1865, and shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant—with that the Confederacy effectively collapsed. President Davis was captured on May 10, 1865, at Irwinville, Georgia.[4] Four years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White that secession was illegal and that the Confederacy had never legally existed.[5]
A decade after the Civil war ended the Congress engaged in a process called Reconstruction. Some believe this period was an extension of the Civil war. The Confederacy was established in the Montgomery Convention in February 1861 by state delegations sent from seven of the secessionist states of the United States. Following Lincoln’s inauguration, four additional border states were represented, and subsequently two states and two territories gained seats in the Confederate Congress in accordance with their Secessionist resolves. The government existed from Spring 1861 to Spring 1865 during a Civil War initiated by Confederate firing on U.S. Fort Sumter.
Many southern whites had considered themselves more Southern than American and would fight for their state and their region to be independent of the larger nation. That regionalism became a Southern nationalism, or the “Cause”. For the duration of its existence, the Confederacy underwent trial by war.[7]The “Southern Cause” transcended the ideology of “states’ rights”, tariff policy or internal improvements. It was based on lifestyle, values and belief system. Its “way of life” became sacred to its adherents. Everything of the South became a moral question, commingling love of things Southern and hatred of things Yankee (the North). Not only did national political parties split, but national churches and interstate families as well divided along sectional lines as the war approached.[8]Wikipedia.
Republican Congressmen sit at a table perpetuating the lie that they are ready to negotiate, while Democrats are unwilling to Conference with them. This lie was borne out in a tweet by House Majority leader Eric Cantor, ® Virginia. The truth is Democratic Budget committee chair-person Senator Patty Murray requested that Republicans come to the table on 18 separate occasions, on every occasion Republicans have refused to do so.
I lifted that bit of historical perspective above from the pages of Wikipedia to give you some context for what’s happening in America at this time and to offer some context for why they are happening. This forgone narrative explains in brief where America was before the Civil war and where she is now. At the center of this narrative are two young Lawyers from the state of Illinois, Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama. The fight being waged in Washington between common sense and the Conservative movement is not happening in a vacuum, there is precedent for this. For many Americans the Civil war was not decided, they expect the South to rise again. Many argue that the Republican Party hijacked the South, I submit that the South hijacked the Republican Party. The Tea-Party movement is not a grass roots operation which is concerned about Government spending. It is a cynical and conniving Separatist, Fundamentalist movement aimed at the destruction at everything Obama does and if possible putting an end to the Federal Government. The Tea-Party is well funded by wealthy and powerful people who hate Obama yes, but would ultimately like to see a return to the norms of pre-civil war America.
It’s easy to shrug and say conspiracy theory,.….….…… not so. Take a deeper look at what they say at their rallies, listen to the rhetoric, look at the paraphernalia supporters show up with. They have a disdain for Government as it is constituted now. Southern secessionists disagreed with the Federal Government then, they do so now. Actions matter not words. The path of the Republican Party has been clear with it’s actions. Opposed to comprehensive Immigration. Opposed to competing for Africa-American votes. Voter suppression.Radically gerrymandered homogeneous Congressional Districts. In fact the Republican Party objective is to have an America which looks exactly like the people at the table. The Republican Party is not a party of moderation, it is now a party which represents the South and it’s values, the South wants an ethnically homogeneous Nation. Candidates running for office as Republicans are forced farther and farther to the right, the result is the stalemate which presently exists. In many Congressional districts in most southern states Democrats don’t even bother to field credible candidates. It’s only going to get worse.