Decentralization and Secession

Understanding history is not about understanding formulas or narratives. Instead, we must understand the people who made history, their motives, and their goals.

Understanding history is not about understanding formulas or narratives. Instead, we must understand the people who made history, their motives, and their goals.

In most nations of any size, sectionalism is almost inevitable. How nations handle such divisions, historian Frank L. Owsley, determines if sectionalism is peaceful or becomes violent. It became violent in the US in 1861.

In most nations of any size, sectionalism is almost inevitable. How nations handle such divisions, historian Frank L. Owsley, determines if sectionalism is peaceful or becomes violent. It became violent in the US in 1861.

Ryan McMaken and historian Larsen Plyler talk about how the Americans of the 1770s envisioned a new community of independent and sovereign states. The first constitution made this clear. But then the new counterrevolutionaries like Hamilton wrote a new constitution designed to create one big national state with vast new powers.

The original 13 British colonies that made up the early United States had very different populations with decidedly different political and social outlooks.

The original 13 British colonies that made up the early United States had very different populations with decidedly different political and social outlooks.

In the new Ken Burns documentary, an old myth—held by the left and right—is repeated: that chaos led to the need for the Constitution and a stronger national government.

Dr. David Gordon, in today’s Friday Philosophy, reviews Clyde N. Wilson’s, Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture. In these essays, Professor Wilson defends secession and the Southern cause.

What do we mean by “individualism” in the American tradition? It is not separatist or atomistic, but rather freedom from having state actors running one’s life.