Section #1 - The Congressmen Who Built Then Broke The Union
Prologue
Dedicated to My Huckleberry Friend Susie
A wise people (will) discourage and restrain…the spirit of party. It agitates
the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity
of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens
the door…to corruption.
George Washington Farewell Address September 19, 1796
Between 1775 and 1861 an extraordinary set of mostly men found a new nation, the United States of America; agree on a Constitution to govern it; work in harmony to build it into a world power; and then bear witness to its breaking apart, incapable of resolving a tragic flaw – the embrace of chattel slavery – in its original contract.
What follows here is the story of the men who built that nation and then broke it, and how that came about.
It examines the leading actors responsible for the outcome within all three branches of the federal government, but most importantly on the Representatives and Senators who participate in the thirty-seven sessions of Congress.
All plead allegiance to the experiment known as Democracy, the notion that government should answer to the will of the citizens rather than the whims of a monarch. All begin with a commitment to strengthening the Union and preserving it for future generations. All want the story to end with the promised pursuit of happiness realized.
But it’s not to be, for the pursuit soon leads to a house divided, driven by the oldest frailties of mankind: the quest for individual wealth and power. Suddenly as the 19th century industrial revolution plays out, America is left with two very different economic systems – one dependent on the expansion of slavery for success, the other opposed to this mainly for self-serving reasons.
Both sides share their contempt for the enslaved blacks at the center of the debate, and both wish to cleanse them from American soil if possible. But one side, the South, sees them as essential to their economic future and the other, the North, sees them as a hindrance to theirs.
Thus the men who built the Union line up on different sides and decide to kill each other to see who prevails. The better angels give way to hatred; the center cannot hold; and war – the maker of misery – darkens the land for four years.