All We Ask is to be Let Alone: The Southern Secession Fact Book
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Book Overview
Was the secession of the Southern states unconstitutional? Did slavery alone cause secession? Was the North compelled to wage war to preserve the Union and abolish slavery? These questions remain among the most fiercely debated issues in American history.
In All We Ask Is to Be Let Alone: The Southern Secession Fact Book, award-winning Southern historian Lochlainn Seabrook challenges prevailing interpretations of secession and the American Civil War. Drawing upon constitutional documents, primary sources, contemporaneous testimony, and the writings of leading American statesmen, he presents a detailed defense of the Southern constitutional position.
Seabrook places the secession crisis within the broader history of American disunion movements, including the New England secession debates and the Hartford Convention of 1814-1815. He examines why secession was contemplated by Northerners in earlier decades, yet condemned when Southern states invoked the same principle in 1860 and 1861.
This generously illustrated reference work explores the meaning, history, legality, and constitutionality of secession; the political functions and philosophical foundations of the doctrine; the complex issues leading to Southern withdrawal; and the defense and justification of secession advanced by its supporters. It also examines the 13 Secession Ordinances, Northern secession movements, the relationship between slavery and abolitionism, and the economic interests behind Northern resistance to Southern independence.
Presented in an accessible, easy-to-consult format, the book contains approximately 300 primary facts and thousands of supporting facts. Seabrook supplements his analysis with hundreds of observations from Southern and Northern Founding Fathers, U.S. presidents, vice presidents, statesmen, political thinkers, constitutional scholars, legal authorities, and foreign intellectuals who discussed state sovereignty, federal power, political separation, and the nature of the American Union.
For additional historical and constitutional context, the volume includes the complete texts of the 13 Secession Ordinances, the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, and the Virginia Report of 1799. A comprehensive bibliography, detailed index, and nearly 800 endnotes provide readers with extensive material for further study and verification.
Thoroughly researched and unapologetically written from a Southern constitutional perspective, All We Ask Is to Be Let Alone offers a substantial reference for readers interested in secession, states' rights, constitutional history, the Confederacy, and the origins of the American Civil War. Whether readers agree or disagree with its conclusions, the book invites them to examine the documentary record and reconsider assumptions that have shaped conventional accounts of the conflict.
Lochlainn Seabrook is an award-winning historian, bestselling author, and acclaimed multidisciplinary artist who has devoted more than 45 years to the study of American history, constitutional government, politics, and religion. His related books include Abraham Lincoln Was a Liberal, Jefferson Davis Was a Conservative; Lincoln's War: The Real Cause, the Real Winner, the Real Loser; The Great Yankee Coverup: What the North Doesn't Want You to Know About Lincoln's War; Confederacy 101: Amazing Facts You Never Knew About America's Oldest Political Tradition; and The Constitution of the Confederate States of America Explained.
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