The terrible price of sovereignty

Sovereignty is generally understood as a country's right to determine its future and control its affairs. Defending sovereignty is a reoccurring theme of history, not just because 'sovereigns' wanted to maintain power, but because people in general like to feel they have some measure of control over their own destinies, even if that is only in checking the power of their own king, emperor or leader.

Its not general knowledge that, during the Civil War, Union General  Ulysses Grant was a prominent slave owner or that Lee, that wily general who led the 'Southern' forces to so many victories, fought for Virginia, not the CSA  (The Confederate States of America) or for maintenance of slavery, but for the state of Virginia. Mechanisation was already looming in the cotton fields and slavery may have ended quite naturally once the industrial North bought out the South.

Not many of us are aware that The American Civil War was fought over sovereignty, not slavery. It was Lincoln's resolution to keep the Union together that drove the conflict, not a difference in opinion on or his sympathy for the plight of the black population.  Although the more famous of his speeches address emancipation, his real political imperative was holding the Union together for security and economic purposes. Slavery simply provided moral high ground to convince those who wavered.

 

Virginia, once a proud colony of her majesty, after whom she was named, was foremost in adopting the notion of the United States as a bond to overthrow the British control of Virginia and as a bulwark against the looming Spanish colonies.  No-one in Virginia considered themselves a 'citizen of United States'.  Men fought for their state and military units were named by state. The establishment of West Point was about trying to integrate armies before it was about producing elite officers. The 'United States' was a pragmatic arrangement to protect state sovereignty from Great Britain.

 

This sense of state sovereignty continued into the lead up to the Civil War. Jefferson Davis asserted state sovereignty, in a speech to the Senate, as moral grounds for secession. This was no "southern" phenomena - Davis refers to the tension of many states in resolving state rights and sovereignty and the bond with other states  of a United States. For Davis, the control of slaves, not their ownership per se, was the stick that broke the secessionist back. Slaves were 'bleeding' into the North where they became an underclass of labour for Northern states (often living in worse conditions), making the South less attractive to investment. Retrieving these slaves was vital and Federal law stood in its way.

"I then said, if Massachusetts, following her through a stated line of conduct (he is referring to the nullification of a federal law on slavery), chooses to take the last step which separates her from the Union, it is her right to go, and I will neither vote one dollar nor one man to coerce her back, but will say to her, Godspeed, in memory of the kind associations which once existed between her and the other states." (A Final Adieu, Jefferson Davis, January 21, 1861)

Secession to protect state rights was a very 'American' political posture. Texas was an independent country for a fleeting moment. In a decade, it was part of four countries. States maintained militia for the express purpose of preventing the will of the Federals being forced onto a state. Fundamental to maintaining this militia was the notion of being 'ready' by allowing every citizen to own and carry a gun. (Such was the level of ownership of guns that many species became extinct through over hunting. The Eternal Frontier, Tim Flannery)

In the American psyche, the ownership of guns equates with independence and control of one's affairs, not with criminality or war. Thus, high levels of ownership are generally tolerated by most. Of course, the litany of shootings in recent years has exposed this tolerance to another imperative - the need to protect your children. This is the list for the last 6 months of 2012.

1. Newtown, CT, December 14, 2012, 20 children, 6 adults, 1 gunman
2. Chicago, IL, October 21, 2012, Two men, ages 28 and 30, were killed. A 25-year-old pregnant woman was wounded. 1 gunman
3. Brookfield, WI, October 21, 2012, Radcliffe Haughton shot and killed his estranged wife Zina Haughton and two other women and himself. 1 gunman
4. Casselberry, FL, October 18, 2012 Three women were killed and one was wounded. Gunman Bradford Baumet, who later killed himself at another location.
5. Winter Springs, FL, September 30, 2012, Multiple shooters killed two and wounded one.
6. Minneapolis, MN, September 27, 2012, Andrew Engeldinger opened fire, killing five and wounding four before killing himself.
7. Compton, CA, September 10, 2012, A still-unidentified shooter opened fire killing one and injuring two others. Gang-related.
8. Old Bridge, NJ, August 31, 2012, 23-year-old Terence Tyler shot and killed two coworkers at a Pathmark grocery store.
9. Chicago, IL, August 24, 2012, Eight people ranging in age from 14 to 20 years. Unrelated shootings bring the weekend total of August 24 to 19 people.
10. Laplace, LA, August 16, 2012, Two police deputies were killed and two were wounded in a shootout in a suburb of New Orleans
11. August 13, 2012, A 30-minute shootout near the Texas A&M University campus resulted in the deaths of a police constable, a bystander, the shooter, and the injury of four others.
12. Oak Creek, WI, August 5, 2012, Seven people were killed, including the gunman and three injured at a Sikh temple in a Milwaukee suburb.
13. Aurora, CO, July 20, 2012, Twelve people were killed and 58 were injured in Aurora, Colorado during a sold-out midnight premier of the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" when 24-year-old James Holme unloaded four weapons' full of ammunition into the unsuspecting crowd.
14. Tuscaloosa, AL, July 17, 2012, Nathan Van Wilkins stood outside of a crowded downtown bar and opened fire from two different positions early Tuesday, sending patrons running or crawling for cover. At least 17 people were hurt.
15. Chicago, IL, July 11, 2012, Four youngsters are among the latest victims caught in Chicago’s gun violence epidemic, including two middle school-aged girls.
16. Dover, DE, July 9, 2012 At a weekend soccer tournament in Delaware three people died and two were wounded.
17. Chicago, IL, July 6, 2012 Three people were shot, a 19-year-old man was shot in the calf, a 34-year-old man was shot in the back and a 24-year-old man was shot in the thigh.

(Brady Campaign)

To remove guns from the US, the whole orientation of people across the country would have to shift in a way that would be as profound a change as a majority of Australians deciding to arm themselves to fight against the government. It overturns 3 centuries of cultural narrative.

There is no doubt that many Americans would love to see gun control. They don't buy the line of the gun lobby that people not guns kill. But they have such a historical barrier to overcome that it may never happen.