should jeff davis have been hanged?

[J. J.]

No.  Because I oppose the death penalty AND because if you executed Davis for treason, you'd have to execute a lot of other Southerners.  That's all this country needed after the Civil War.  More bloodshed.

I do support the death penalty, but I think using it would have been more divisive.

I might have ask Lee to head up Reconstruction as well.

[J. J.]

I am familiar with the 10th Amendment, thank you.

However, I maintain that secession is unconstitutional, resting still on the old argument that the Constitution is a permanently binding document, from which you cannot break out.

There is also an argument that the Earth is flat, but the facts suggest otherwise.  Whether the states could secede or not is not a matter of opinion, the 10th amendment makes their right to secede a fact.

I disagree on that point.

Its called a fact, you can disagree on opinions, facts cannot be disagreed with.  This is like me telling you the sky is blue and you insist that it is gold.

No, it's not.  I interpret the Constitution as an unbreakble contract, and apparently you do not.

In theory, I do not believe there is an "unbreakable" contract.  While I don't see the 10th Amendment as granting a right to secede, I think in 1861, could have been done.

A state could have requested disassociation and the remainder of the states could have granted it.  I think the problem is equal representation in the Senate. 

The Constitution  is not an unbearable contract, but one that cannot be broken by one party without the consent of the others.

[J. J.]

I might have ask Lee to head up Reconstruction as well.

That would have been wonderful, but the RR's would have never allowed it.

Lincoln might have pulled it off and Lee freed his slaves in 1859 and was aware of the problems with trying to integrate them into Southern society.

There were actually good examples where it was done in the local community.  One thing, which everyone forgets, is that a lot of the former slaves were the children of their former masters.  In some places, even after Reconstruction ended, that was recognized.

Or, as I like to say, in the history of the US, race has never been black and white. 

[J. J.]

In theory, I do not believe there is an "unbreakable" contract.  While I don't see the 10th Amendment as granting a right to secede, I think in 1861, could have been done.

The Constitution  is not an unbearable contract, but one that cannot be broken by one party without the consent of the others.

I agree that secession would be permissible with the consent of the other states. However, there appears to be only one constitutionally recognized mechanism by which the states can grant such consent: ratifying a constitutional amendment.

I submit that it could have been done with the consent of the several states, but all would have had agreed.