How Nationalism Conquered States’ Rights

“Gentlemen may cry, ‘peace, peace,’ but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, and peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” – Patrick Henry, 1775

With these stirring words, the great Patrick Henry tried to move the 13 American colonies to action against England. Henry didn’t do it by himself, of course, but his words live on in American history as one of the battle cries that led America to independence. America was born. What did our Founders create? Let’s look further at this issue of states’ rights versus national government power.

After the Independence War, the 13 states wrote a Constitution, surrendering some of their powers to a national government, powers they thought could be handled better collectively than individually. For example, they didn’t want a single state starting a war with some country and perhaps dragging the rest of the states in with it. But the states, in that Constitution of 1789, jealously guarded their powers — they delegated very few powers to that united government, and then, just to be sure, wrote a Bill of Rights telling that national government what it could not do. Even then, Patrick Henry didn’t like this Constitution. He thought it gave the national government too much power. He did not trust government, any government, but especially a national one. That was the “slavery” he feared — not individual, chattel slavery.

Let me emphasize this remarkable thinking in the mind of Henry and America’s Founders: “Is life so dear, and peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?” Our Founding Fathers believed that submission to a tyrannical government was slavery. To Patrick Henry, if government has all power, and gives and takes every citizen’s “rights” (as per Virginia Sen. Tom Kaine), that’s not freedom. That’s slavery.

But the tsunami wave of history was against Mr. Henry and those who feared a too-powerful national government. Understanding history is critical to understanding why national governments, everywhere, are now dominant.

Nationalism had been a growing phenomenon over the previous few hundred years, and today has become the accepted philosophy — the “zeitgeist” — for governments and people worldwide. There were myriad “nationalist” movements in the 19th and 20th centuries, and they affected American thinking as well. They weren’t, however, overpowering in 1776, which is why our Founders wrote the Constitution they did, i.e., strictly limiting the power of the national government and putting most powers in the hands of the states and people. Nationalism was growing, but not foremost — yet.

But…growing. In England, in the 1640s, when Parliament and King Charles I had their civil war, Parliament, of course, won. They put the King on trial for treason. “What are you talking about?” Charles responded. “Treason is rebellion against the King!” And, traditionally, historically, he was right, which is why his head had to come off. Treason was not rebellion against the country, but against the king.

But the tide was against Charles, too. England increasingly was a “nation,” not a “kingdom.” The same thing happened in the French Revolution. The king was beheaded, and France started its march to “nationhood.” Europe continued to drift in that direction. In the 1860s, Germany and Italy accepted the nationalist philosophy and formed united countries with dominant national governments. Asia (Japan, Korea, China) caught the bug, as did the Middle East and Africa in the late 19th and 20th centuries. “Colonialism” became anathema. And the “nationalism” idea, as noted, is universally accepted today around the world. “Treason” is rebellion against the nation and its national government.

America, in Western civilization, was perhaps the last great holdout against nationalism. Folks, remember, we rebelled against a national government; submission to it was slavery. But…that tide of history was in nationalism’s favor, and indeed, it is that philosophy that influenced Abraham Lincoln to go to war when the Southern states seceded. “Treason” against the national government. The South held out and defended the anti-nationalism of Patrick Henry and most of America’s Founders. Few Americans — very, very few — understand this today. Whatever else it was, America’s Civil War — War Between the States — was, philosophically, a battle between nationalism, the new philosophy of our national government, and states’ rights. We know who won, and we know who now dominates American power, where the ultimate power lies.

The Union’s victory in the internecine struggle of 1861-1865 obviously has implications for America today. We have what we have now because the North won. Nationalism got its grip after 1865, and has not loosened its hold one bit — for good or ill — since then.

Americans today are nationalists. Because of 1865, that’s the terms we now think in. The vast majority believe that what the Southern states did in 1860-1861, even excluding their defense of slavery, was treason. “They used states’ rights to defend slavery and Jim Crow laws.” True. Just like the national government today uses nationalist principles to defend abortion, uncontrollable debt, and incalculable other constitutionally dubious actions. That knife cuts both ways.

States today, of course, can do certain things. But the national government can override, by Congress and/or the Supreme Court, not by constitutional amendment as the Constitution requires (i.e., asking the states for more power), any law a state passes. The states can, in effect, only do what the feds allow them. That, of course, turns our Constitution on its head. For good or ill.

I’m making no judgment here. I’m only telling you the history. And consequences. We live with them now.

Check out my Substacks: “Mark It Down! (mklewis929.substack.com) and “Mark It Down! Bible Substack” (mklbibless.substack.com). Both free. Read my great tales of the Old American West, available on Amazon and Kindle: "Whitewater," "River Bend," "Return to River Bend," "Allie’s Dilemma," and "Kendrick and other stories." Follow me on X: @thailandmkl

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