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Introduction
- University of Virginia Press
- Chapter
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Introduction On November 20, 1861, Kentucky became the last state to attempt secession from the Union, the thirteenth to do so since the previous December . Kentucky’s secession, like Missouri’s before it, was never entirely effective, but as the last of its kind, her Ordinance of Secession is particularly instructive. According to the aggrieved Kentuckians gathered at Russelville in Confederate-occupied territory, the Lincoln government had substituted for the highest forms of national liberty and constitutional government a central despotism founded upon the ignorant prejudices of the masses of Northern society, and instead of giving protection with the Constitution to the people of fifteen States of this Union, have turned loose upon them the unrestrained and raging passions of mobs and fanatics, and because we now seek to hold our liberties, our property, our homes, and our families under the protection of the reserved powers of the States, have blockaded our ports, invaded our soil, and waged war upon our people for the purpose of subjugating us to their will.1 This statement of defiance set the tone for what was already developing as the narrative thread of Confederate nationalism: Worthy Southrons were innocent of any aggression, only wanting to be left alone to enjoy the exercise of those powers reserved to the states under the Constitution . Southrons were only defending themselves against the unprovoked and merciless depredations of the degraded mob, whose passions had been inflamed by Demon Yankees. Slaves were alluded to (“our property ”) but otherwise did not speak for themselves. The root of the North’s excesses was their usurpation of the Constitution and therefore their rejection of the American tradition of limited government and reserved powers. Northerners were thus un-American, unworthy, and aggressive in their desires to bend others to their capricious will. By implication, confederate visions 2 Southerners were American, worthy, and peaceful in the maintenance of their way of life. In this analysis of wartime Confederate nationalism, the Kentucky Ordinance of Secession stands as representative of the wider notion of a “mythic present.” Nationalism exists at a particular moment in time, but that moment, though anchored to the present, also extends backward into the past and forward into the future.2 Nationalisms are at least partially based on an understanding of past history, whether of a region, a people, a culture, a religion, or so on. They draw strength from that historical past at the same time as they mold it to their own purposes, selectively choosing episodes and interpretations that suit the demands of the present. So, it is fair to say that nationalisms generally speak to an ahistorical past, based on a vision of what should be true, rather than what actually was. Confederate nationalism was no exception. Nationalisms also look to the future, in that they seek to ensure the perpetuation and growth of the nation in the days to come. The temporality of Confederate nationalism is odd in that it both drew from a shallow well and suffered from excessive compression. While prophets of the future Confederacy did exist in the antebellum era, the majority of ordinary white Southerners did not begin to seriously consider themselves as a potentially separate nation until quite late in the 1850s. In addition, of course, the Confederate nation, and the Civil War it spawned, lasted only four years, a very short period of time in which to construct a new nationality. Nationalisms to that point had generally benefited from a much deeper well of commonality and a far longer span of time in which to construct themselves. In fact, one of the most appropriate examples to which we can compare the formation of Confederate nationalism is the formation of American nationalism in the 1770s and 1780s, a process that would in many ways be replicated by the Confederacy of the 1860s. Thus, with respect to the peculiar temporality of Confederate nationalism , it makes sense to speak of a mythic present, a place in time in which past and present are compressed, constructed, and reconstructed to meet the immediate needs of the nation. A sober assessment of their reality might have convinced white Southerners that the prospects of their securing independence were limited and that their best course of action would be to acquiesce in the transition of slavery to a more ostensibly benign labor system, akin to the various types of indentures, ap- [3.89.163.156] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 08:55 GMT) 3 introduction prenticeships, and one-sided contracts...