Lincoln's View on Right of National Independence

[lgm270]

Located in Lincoln's Collected Works an interesting Resolution drafted by A. Lincoln in 1852 in connection with the response of committee of Whig  party members in Illinois to the Hungarian  fight for independence against Tsarist Russia.  The Hungarian leader, Louis Kossuth was in the US and  the issue of whether or not the US should assist Hungarian patriots was hotly debated, as between interventionists, on the one hand, and "non-interventionists", on the other.   This debate in Illinois occurred all over the US, as US sympathies were with the Hungarian underdogs as against the larger Russian empire.  The resolution below condemned Russia for crushing Hungarian national aspirations and, among other things,  affirmed the right of the US and other governments to intervene on behalf of liberty loving peoples  and to praise the "patriotic efforts of the Irish, the Germans and the French, who have unsuccessfully fought to establish in their several governments the supremacy of the people."   

Discussing the issue of national independence, the Resolution   the resolution promulgated the principle that it is "the right of any people..." to "throw off" their existing form of government,  and achieve independence as follows:


"Resolved, 1. That it is the right of any people, sufficiently numerous for national independence, to throw off, to revolutionize, their existing form of government, and to establish such other in its stead as they may choose."

                                                                                                   (Emphasis added)

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:184?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

Hmmmmm...would not this principle apply to the Confederate States of America?   And if not, why not? 

It should be noted that the next day the following amendment was added to the resolution.


``Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States not to do any act, or lay down any principle in regard to non-intervention, that shall prevent this Nation at any time, from interfering in favor of any people who may be struggling for liberty in any part of the world, when a proper occasion shall arrive."



Thus, the Illinois citizens, and Lincoln, reserved the rights of the US to intervene "in favor of any people who may be struggling for liberty in any part of the world,"  but said nothing about intervening to suppress such liberty, as did the Union in 1861 against the Confederate States, whose people clearly  met the requirements for independence in No. 1 of this Resolution.

 Why did Lincoln change in 1861 from this position that he endorsed in 1852 in Illinois?  Why would he deny to the people  of the Southern States the same rights that he promulgated for Hungarians, Irish, Germans and French?   

[williamlayton]

Of course it is their right to try---success is not a guarentee however.
Man, as an individual, always has the right to try anything he wishes, even if it is against the law, or bad, if that is understood---the doing is pretty easy--the sucess is the difficult part.
Blessings

[lgm270]

Of course it is their right to try---success is not a guarentee however.
Man, as an individual, always has the right to try anything he wishes, even if it is against the law, or bad, if that is understood---the doing is pretty easy--the sucess is the difficult part.
Blessings

Lincoln's resolution did not reference any so called  "right to try." 

Rather, Lincoln's resolution, endorsed by Lyman Trumbull among others,   specifically said that it is "the right of any people sufficiently numerous for  national independence to throw off...their existing  form of government...".

Lincoln specifically endorsed, in effect, the right of people to secede, although his resolution did not use that word, but rather the term "throw off...their existing form of government."

The Confederate States succeeded in doing precisely that and did it through the democratic process in early 1861.  All Southern  state legislatures passed ordinances of secession.


This raises a number of interesting questions, not the least of which was whether or not Southern Americans had a right to rely on a resolution drafted and signed by "Honest Abe"?    To my knowledge he was never confronted with this inconsistency.... but it's not easy to document this because he jailed many newspaper publishers and shut down state legislatures where he was afraid the vote in a "democracy" would go against him.