Rich - what he wrote did make sense..
The US was first a confederation under the Articles of Confederation, IIRC. It didn't work out very well.
No it made no sense cause I was talking about the power fo the Federal Govt. before and after the civil war. Besides hes a rude idiot and Im tired of the guy.
Any 5'th grader with a decent education knows the Civil War changed the power equation between the States and Federal Governement. In reality we have two Americas. The one before the civil war and the one after.
First off almost 1/2 of America was occupied by a Federal army under martial Law. Actually much of the confederacy was already under martial Law as the Union army occupied territory under force of arms. The use of Martial law was not all emcompassing and was used by the federal Govt. to impose its will outside the control of the civilian courts. Imagine that? A US President imposing martial law in states both north and south of the line in order to circumvent the civlian Govts. Yes ML had been used before but never like that, and never since.
And it was in many other ways the Federal govt increased its power over states after the war. It greatly expanded its power of criminal law and criminal penaltys. It completly re-wrote civil rights legislation and placed itself as the main enforcement arm. It increased its power over the mail system and interstate commerce, including the rail system. Think about that sentence? If I remember right I think that was called the Sherman act.
Regarding tarrifs and taxes this is where the Federal Govt. really won out after the war. And many people dont know but the subject of taxes and revenues was a major reason FOR the war, "slavery"? "Oh please"! The war itself almost started 13 years earlier when the Fed tried to increase taxes on southern plantation owners and was only averted after the north blinked "Andrew Jackson" remember?
I could go on and on but the fact is that only a totally unschooled fool could possibly think the civil war did not vastly increase the powers of the Federal Govt vis-a-vis State Govt's. Why should I go to such trouble to repeat what is such a obvious historical fact?