Epilogue

In hindsight, Disunion seems ordained from the beginning at Independence Hall in 1787, where James Madison records a “difference of interest” in his private secretarial notes:

I was always convinced that the difference of interest in the US lay not between
the large and small but the northern and southern states…and it was pretty well
understood that the institution of slavery and its consequences formed the line
of discrimination.

His sentiments are seconded by John Rutledge, the powerful chairman of the Committee of Detail at the convention, charged with drafting the Constitution – who makes it clear that any future constraints on slavery will never be tolerated.

I would never agree to give a power by which the articles relating to slaves might
be altered by the States not interested in that property and prejudiced against it.

Thus “comes the war,” followed by the contentious Reconstruction years and Republican Party’s success in presidential elections up to 1884.

Presidential Elections After The Civil War

A turning point in North-South relations comes about in the 1876 election where the Democrat, Samuel Tilden, gets more popular ballots than Rutherford B. Hayes and falls only one vote shy in the Electoral College. The latter traces to after the fact “adjustments” made by a Republican led Commission, which outrages the Democrats.

Resolution lies in the Compromise of 1877, whereby Hayes is confirmed as President in exchange for his removal of the last Union military troops stationed in the South to oversee local governments. Historians regard this as the de facto end of Reconstruction.

Subsequent Presidents Born in the South (1913–2001)