Book Ends: Richard Henry Lee & Alexander Stephens on the Consolidation of the States

It's interesting to read two eras of history that address, in relative terms, the same subject. In this case, the topic is the consolidation of the several States into one centralized government.

Those who became known in history as the Anti-Federalists routinely predicted that the Constitution would lead to the consolidation of the States into one government or, at the very least, render the States nothing more than administrative districts for the central government. Richard Henry Lee, the man who offered the resolution for Independence in 1776, was one such Anti-Federalist.

Alexander Stephens, though opposed to the secession of Georgia, threw his fortunes in with his state when it left the Union on January 21, 1861. Subsequently, Stephens became the Vice-President of the Confederacy.

The selection from Stephens comes from his two-volume work entitled, Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States. The Judge Bynum he quotes is a fictitious character; however, the conversation is said to reflect an actual discussion Stephens had with a party of men after the war.

What can you make of these selections in light of the current situation in these United States of America?

--August Glen-James, editor

No. I do not maintain that they have as yet reached that point; but I do mean to maintain that the principles upon which they waged the war, involved that final result, and will, unless abandoned, necessarily and inevitably lead to that ultimate result.”

Richard Henry Lee:*

“The present moment discovers a new face in our affairs. Our object has been all along to reform our federal system and to strengthen our governments—to establish peace, order, and justice in the community—but a new object now presents. The plan of government now proposed is evidently calculated  totally to change, in time, our condition as a people. Instead of being thirteen republics under a federal head, it is clearly designed to make us one consolidated government. . . . This consolidation of the states has been the object of several men in this country for some time past. Whether such a change can ever be effected, in any manner; whether it can be effected without convulsion and civil wars; whether such a change will not totally destroy the liberties of this country, time only can determine.

“The conduct of several legislatures toughing paper-money and tender laws has prepared many honest men for changes in government, which otherwise they would not have thought of—when by the evils, on the one hand, and by the secret instigations of artful men, on the other, the minds of men were become sufficiently uneasy, a bold step was taken, which is usually followed by a revolution or a civil war. A general convention for mere commercial purposes was moved for—the authors of this measure saw that the people’s attention was turned solely to the amendment of the federal system; and that, had the idea of a total change been started, probably no state would have appointed members to the Convention. The idea of destroying, ultimately, the state government and forming one consolidated system could not have been admitted. A convention, therefore, merely for vesting in Congress power to regulate trade was proposed. . . . The plan proposed appears to be partly federal, but principally, however, calculated ultimately to make the states one consolidated government.”

Alexander Stephens:**

“The call for the extra session was made on the fall of Fort Sumter; but hardly had that summons reached the country by the telegraphic wires, before these mystic messengers, with the wings of lighting, brought Mr. Lincoln’s celebrated Proclamation of the 15th of April.

“The effect of this upon the public mind of the Southern States cannot be described or even estimated. The shock was not unlike that produced by great convulsions of nature—the upheaving and rocking of the earth itself! It was not that of fright. Far from it! But a profound feeling of wonder and astonishment! Up to this time, a majority, I think, of even those who had favored the policy of Secession, had done so under the belief and conviction that it was the surest way of securing a redress of grievances, and of bringing the Federal Government back to Constitutional principles. . . . This proclamation dispelled all such hopes. It showed the party in power intended nothing short of complete Centralization. There was no longer any divisions amongst the people of the Confederate States. . . . The principles actuating the Washington authorities were those aiming at Consolidated Power; while the principles controlling the action of the Montgomery authorities were those which enlisted devotion and attachment to the Federative system as established by the Fathers in 1778 and in 1787. The object on the one side—the aggressive side—the Federal side, so miscalled—was to overthrow the very principles upon which every Federal system is based; while, on the other, it was to defend and maintain those principles. In short, the cause of the Confederates was State Sovereignty, or the Sovereign Right of local Self-Government on the part of theStates severally. It was the same cause, to maintain which all the Colonies at first, and all the States afterwards, united, in the ever memorable conflict with the Mother Country, in 1776; and on the success of which, in that contest, depended the whole fabric of American Free Institutions. The cause of their assailants involved the overthrow of this entire fabric, and the erection of a Centralized Empire in its stead! This is the issue, in a Constitutional point of view, fairly presented.”

“Judge Bynum. Do you maintain that the United States by putting down Secession became a Centralized Empire?”

“Mr. Stephens. No. I do not maintain that they have as yet reached that point; but I do mean to maintain that the principles upon which they waged the war, involved that final result, and will, unless abandoned, necessarily and inevitably lead to that ultimate result.”

*Richard Henry Lee. Pamphlets: Letters I-V, pp. 279-325. Letter I, October 8, 1787

**Alexander Hamilton Stephens. Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States: Its Causes, Character, Conduct and Results; Presented in a Series of Colloquies at Liberty Hall. Two Volumes. Forgotten Books. London, 2017, vol. II, pp. 356-357. Originally published in 1868.