The American Dissenter

Ancestor Enthusiast. Descendant of Founders of RI, King Philip’s War, Indian Wars, Am Rev, Wo1812, Alamo, Union, Confederate, WWI, WWII, Korea.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

@88BWCSTROKER14 @realcountry1953 Amen

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

@realcountry1953 The hero is the soldier. Most did not choose their flag; destiny chose it for them.

The brothers who fought the Civil War understood this far better than we do today.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

They started in Berkeley VA-WV. Moved to PA after the American Rev. Like most of my Scots-Irish ancestors, most started in VA appalachians. I don’t know much beyond Thomas McCoy (James father) as the booklet passed down from my grandfather started from there. Someone loaded it online over the years (link). But family lore was Thomas was a cousin of to the infamous McCoy line. Figure that is mostly lore and less fact tbh though.

https://t.co/mrnfpF2NRb

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

@BBHerodotus @EchoesofWarYT When did he start brewing his seasonal sampler pack?

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

@bmc_woodworking @realcountry1953 I’ve got my own James McCoy.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

@EchoesofWarYT Gerrymandering just for the love of the game. How it should be done…the OG Patrick Henry

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

Fair point…you’re right on the Framers’ design for a strong executive in emergencies like this. Once Sumter fell and property was attacked, decisive action was needed to preserve the Union. I concede that.

The lame duck handover from Buchanan (and the congressional session) left Lincoln a mess. My main hindsight gripe is not calling Congress back in weeks instead of months, but that might be my modern lens as I understand travel logistics in 1861 were brutal.

All that said.. maybe we should revisit shorter/focused congressional sessions. Year-round hasn’t done us favors with everyone in DC making themselves “useful”.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

This perfectly captures my position. One can deeply admire Southern courage, piety, martial tradition, and cultural heritage without accepting the Confederacy’s constitutional arguments for secession and disunion.

At the same time, rejecting those disunion theories does not obligate me to endorse Lincoln’s response to the crisis—nor the catastrophic loss of life and lasting division it produced. Genuine fidelity to the Constitution and our shared inheritance calls us to confront the failures on all sides, rather than defaulting to a victor’s narrative.

[Publius Doc Rock @chbstone2]

One may admire the South’s courage, piety, military service, and cultural inheritance without embracing the constitutional theories of secession or disunion.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

I agree. We can debate constitutional questions and interpretations without rewriting the past through a one sided modern lens. Preserving history requires a unified, strong rejection of judging and condemning it solely by today’s standards. Equating monuments of heritage with broad endorsement of every act, quote, or flaw from that era is a fools game. Eventually that same approach will be turned against your own heroes too.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

Excellent thread on the full 1837 context — Calhoun forcing the issue really exposed the moderates’ hedging.

Webster (much like Jefferson) viewed slavery as a moral evil best left to gradual “tides of change” and constitutional restraint. Those tides worked elsewhere in the world, but in America they needed a hurricane (war).

Was Webster’s Union-first pragmatism ultimately wiser, or did it just delay the reckoning Calhoun saw coming? Curious on your take.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

Realize I gave a pretty big non answer in my reply. A few things I think he could have done to better respect the constitution:

Call Congress into emergency session right after Fort Sumter instead of waiting until July. Let them authorize the blockade, troops, funding, and habeas suspension from the start. Deliberately setting it for 3 month later showed bad faith in my opinion.

Stay strictly defensive until they met: hold the forts and collect duties, but no unilateral armies or port blockades.

Push harder on diplomacy with the Upper South..real incentives like temporary slavery protections, temporary no-coercion guarantees, and economic aid. Could’ve kept Virginia and others loyal and isolated the radicals.

And left a narrow window for negotiated reunion.. reject secession outright but invite formal talks.

I am in the camp that those emergency precedents became the template for endless executive overreach and the Constitution deserved a more restrained path.

Not questioning the outcome, just the means to get there. And I am making a very big leap that the outcome could have been the same (preserve the Union) with doing these things.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

I think secession was unconstitutional. I also think Lincoln stretched executive power beyond what the framers likely envisioned.

The problem is hindsight. We know the Union survived. Lincoln didn’t.

Maybe a more restrained approach preserves constitutional purity. Emergency congressional session, stronger attempts to retain the upper South. Maybe it also loses the Union. I’m not convinced there was a clean path available or a needle to be thread.

I do think we are living with his precedent today being used under situations not remotely existential.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

@Sogabuzz @vivovinco @cwipaulk Good point. 👍

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

@vivovinco @cwipaulk @Sogabuzz In both cases war was the outcome which was my original point.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

War doesn’t decide right and wrong, agreed. But popular sovereignty cuts both ways in a republic when the whole people consent through shared representation and rules. The colonies had zero voice in Parliament with a distant king taxing without consent. Southern states had full seats in Congress, extra clout via the 3/5 clause, and helped shape the Union for 70+ years. I want to avoid a tiresome constitutional debate as I know all the talking points and am sympathetic. Struggling to draw the parallels, one leaving a one sided relationship they didn’t consent to. The other leaving a rocky relationship they voluntarily jumped into.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

@ChandlerForPB Odd timing, but I guess not given how legendary Boone is. He had strong overlap with one of my direct ancestors. Just wrote this earlier.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

https://t.co/0k1KK3OeNQ

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

Most of my ancestors were farmers, soldiers, or settlers.

Then there's Jacob “The Longhunter” Castle.

Long hunter. Indian trader. Husband of a Shawnee woman. Defendant in a colonial treason trial. Guide to Daniel Boone. Revolutionary War patriot.

The line between history and folklore gets blurry with this one.

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

https://t.co/0k1KK3OeNQ

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

https://t.co/0k1KK3OeNQ

[The American Dissenter @TheAmRev]

@ChandlerForPB My uncle 6x removed, Mial Scurlock died with him. His brother William my 6xgg narrowly missed being at the Garrison with him when the siege started. He’d go on to be a significant part of Texas formation.