Mississippi Personal Property Rendition: Fill & Download for Free

The War to Preserve Slavery** was a textbook definition of treason: taking up arms against one’s country. Any CSA flag is a symbol of traitors.** Please don’t imagine the war was caused by “states’ rights” or other red herrings. The CSA’s founding document specifically upholds the Southern right to own human beings as chattel slaves.Excerpts from The Declaration of Causes of Seceding StatesGeorgiaFor the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery…..A brief history of the rise, progress, and policy of anti-slavery and the political organization into whose hands the administration of the Federal Government has been committed will fully justify the pronounced verdict of the people of Georgia.MississippiOur position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun.South CarolinaThe right of property in slaves was recognized by giving to free persons distinct political rights, by giving them the right to represent, and burthening [sic] them with direct taxes for three-fifths of their slaves; by authorizing the importation of slaves for twenty years; and by stipulating for the rendition of fugitives from labor….A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that that "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free," and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.Texas…[Texas] was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery-- the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits-- a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time.VirginiaThe Federal Government, having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States.

Here’s why:A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union.In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin. That we do not overstate the dangers to our institution, a reference to a few facts will sufficiently prove.The Declaration of Causes of Seceding StatesAnd here:Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal UnionWe affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those States have assume the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile insurrection.For twenty-five years this agitation has been steadily increasing, until it has now secured to its aid the power of the common Government. Observing the *forms* [emphasis in the original] of the Constitution, a sectional party has found within that Article establishing the Executive Department, the means of subverting the Constitution itself. A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that that "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free," and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.Also here:A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union.In all the non-slave-holding States, in violation of that good faith and comity which should exist between entirely distinct nations, the people have formed themselves into a great sectional party, now strong enough in numbers to control the affairs of each of those States, based upon an unnatural feeling of hostility to these Southern States and their beneficent and patriarchal system of African slavery, proclaiming the debasing doctrine of equality of all men, irrespective of race or color-- a doctrine at war with nature, in opposition to the experience of mankind, and in violation of the plainest revelations of Divine Law. They demand the abolition of negro slavery throughout the confederacy, the recognition of political equality between the white and negro races, and avow their determination to press on their crusade against us, so long as a negro slave remains in these States.For years past this abolition organization has been actively sowing the seeds of discord through the Union, and has rendered the federal congress the arena for spreading firebrands and hatred between the slave-holding and non-slave-holding States.By consolidating their strength, they have placed the slave-holding States in a hopeless minority in the federal congress, and rendered representation of no avail in protecting Southern rights against their exactions and encroachments.Or maybe here:The new constitution [of the Confederate States of America] has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution African slavery as it exists amongst us the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the “rock upon which the old Union would split.” He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the “storm came and the wind blew.”Our new government [of the Confederate States] is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, March 21, 1861“Corner Stone” SpeechI could go on, as there are many more examples, but I think the point is made.People don’t believe Southerners when they say the Confederacy seceded over states’ rights because nobody said that until years after the Civil War was over. The idea that it was about States’ Rights was an example of Post-Civil War revisionist history on the part of Southern leaders; it’s commonly known among historians as “the Myth of the Lost Cause”, and was a (highly successful) attempt to recast the cause of the war as a noble struggle that had little or nothing to do with slavery.It is also absolutely and utterly without historical evidence from before and during the war to support it. The South was not shy about why it was seceding, as the excerpts from the documents I’ve posted above indicate.In fact, rather than violating the rights of the states, many of the Southern states accused the federal government of not doing enough to rein in the behavior of the Northern states, specifically in regard to the recovery of fugitive slaves. Here’s another excerpt from South Carolina’s declaration of secession, which I have already quoted from above:The Constitution of the United States, in its fourth Article, provides as follows: "No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due."This stipulation was so material to the compact, that without it that compact would not have been made. The greater number of the contracting parties held slaves, and they had previously evinced their estimate of the value of such a stipulation by making it a condition in the Ordinance for the government of the territory ceded by Virginia, which now composes the States north of the Ohio River.The same article of the Constitution stipulates also for rendition by the several States of fugitives from justice from the other States.The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States [the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850]. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress [the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850] or render useless any attempt to execute them. In many of these States the fugitive is discharged from service or labor claimed, and in none of them has the State Government complied with the stipulation made in the Constitution. The State of New Jersey, at an early day, passed a law in conformity with her constitutional obligation; but the current of anti-slavery feeling has led her more recently to enact laws which render inoperative the remedies provided by her own law and by the laws of Congress. In the State of New York even the right of transit for a slave has been denied by her tribunals; and the States of Ohio and Iowa have refused to surrender to justice fugitives charged with murder, and with inciting servile insurrection in the State of Virginia. Thus the constituted compact has been deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation.The target of South Carolina’s anger is not the federal government, except insofar as it was too weak to stop the non-slaveholding states from resisting the return of fugitive slaves to the South. In fact, you can’t find anything in South Carolina’s declaration of secession that points to specific actions by the federal government infringing on the rights of the Southern states at all. It was the non-slaveholding states they were angry at.EDIT: The section of South Carolina’s declaration I quoted above is referring to something called the Personal Liberty Laws, which were laws passed by Northern states to provide legal protection for blacks living in the North who were accused of being fugitive slaves. Under the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, all that was required to prove someone was a fugitive slave was a written or verbal statement from their alleged owner, or a representative appointed by the owner (such as a slave hunter) that the person in question was an escaped slave. Personal Liberty Laws required anyone seeking to reclaim an escaped slave in a free state to first obtain a warrant from a state judge, which could be denied with insufficient evidence that the person in question was in fact the fugitive being sought. They also provided some opportunity for the accused fugitive to face their accusers in court, which the federal acts expressly denied. This was a source of great controversy between the Northern and Southern states, and from the Southern perspective was evidence that the federal government was too weak to defend their interests, rather than so strong that it was infringing on their rights. Other states mentioned this in their declarations of secession as well.Here’s Texas:The States of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa, by solemn legislative enactments, have deliberately, directly or indirectly violated the 3rd clause of the 2nd section of the 4th article [the fugitive slave clause] of the federal constitution, and laws passed in pursuance thereof; thereby annulling a material provision of the compact, designed by its framers to perpetuate the amity between the members of the confederacy and to secure the rights of the slave-holding States in their domestic institutions-- a provision founded in justice and wisdom, and without the enforcement of which the compact fails to accomplish the object of its creation. Some of those States have imposed high fines and degrading penalties upon any of their citizens or officers who may carry out in good faith that provision of the compact, or the federal laws enacted in accordance therewith.The Supreme Court actually ruled Personal Liberty Laws unconstitutional, as a violation by the Northern States of the federal government’s authority to determine how the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution (Article IV Section 3) would be enforced. This ruling was handed down in 1844 in the case of Prigg v Pennsylvania, but Northern states continued to pass and enforce Personal Liberty Laws after that ruling.Personal Liberty LawsPrigg v. PennsylvaniaThe Southern States were angry because the Northern States were sheltering escaped slaves, in defiance of federal law, as part of what they saw (correctly) as a larger effort to undermine the institution of slavery in the South. The problem they had with the federal government was not that it was taking their rights away, but that it was not doing enough to stop this behavior by the Northern states. In other words, rather than being tyrannical, they saw the federal government as largely ineffective. Added to this was their concern with Lincoln’s election that the federal government would now join the Northern states in their effort to undermine slavery, specifically by limiting it to those states in which it already existed, while barring slavery from the vast territories acquired from France in 1803 and Mexico in 1848. This would ensure the slaveholding states would become a small minority of the overall nation, placing (it was thought) slavery on a path to eventual extinction. The South wanted to prevent this from happening.So in response to the question, people do not believe it, because it is not true.

Ooh Dylan covers. I like Dylan covers. I really, really like Dylan covers. I’ve got a whole folder of them and I’m trying to get a cover of every song he’s done (I’m almost there, just a few gaps to fill)Here’s a list of just some of my favourites. I haven’t included links because it would take too long and fill up the post but hunt for them on youtube and you should find them…Tomorrow is a long time- Elvis Presley. The King really nailed this one, although the arrangement comes via Odetta.Hard Times in New York City- Cat Power. Kinda slow and ballady and breathy.John Brown- James Luther Dickinson.Only a Hobo- Rod Stewart. A bit overblown in a Rod kind of way but it still works.Seven Curses- The Albion Band. When Dylan delivers this it’s just creepy. It’s a really spooky song and the Albion Band get some way there.Blowing in the Wind- Willie Nile. There are thousands of versions of this song but none that are this fun. And why shouldn't it be fun?Masters of War- Joan Osbourne. Although special mention to Ed Veder.A Hard Rains a Gonna fall. Willie Nile.Don’t Think Twice It’s alright- If you want beautiful then check out Joan Baez and the Indigo girls on Baez’s Ring Them Bells live album. If you want blistering guitar then Clapton at the 30th anniversary show is hard to beat.Baby I’m in the mood for you- Odetta made this song her own.Let Me Die in My Footsteps- Nobody has ever done this song justice but Jason Bennet comes the closest.Quit Your Low Down Ways- I’m not normally a Peter Paul and Mary fan. They’re too sweet and nice for my taste but they do this one well.Walls of Red Wing- Rambling Jack Elliot. Although someone else should try giving this a bluesier edge. It’s a cover classic waiting to happen.The Times they are a Changing- Charlie Daniels. Because it’s fun again. And why not?The Ballad of Hollis Brown- Steven Stills. He’s done a lot of Bob but this one he does better than anyone else.One Too Many Mornings- The Band. They knew and understood him better than anyone.When the ship comes in- The Pogues. It sounds like a Pogues song so why not? Although a Church of England Bishop named Richard T Wright does a nice version as well. I promise I’m not making that up.Restless Farewell- Mark Knofler. Not a guitar workout but perfect for his voice.All I really want to do- The Byrds. Probably the best of their many, many covers.Chimes of Freedom- Bruce Springsteen. He really nails this. You can tell how much he loves the original.I don’t believe you- Glen Campbell. I love this version so much it’s hard to put into words. Campbell has never done anything better, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.My Back Pages- This was performed at the 30th anniversary show by Dylan helped out by Clapton, Petty, Mcguinne, Harrison and Young. It’s an amazing line up of talent. The original idea was to have them sing a verse each in ascending order of fame with Dylan taking the last verse but Bob said it should be George’s because nobody was bigger than a Beatle. So George Harrison got the pride of place spot at Bob’s own tribute concert because Dylan insisted.Subterranean Homesick Blues- Willie Nile. I’m not sure what was being consumed at these sessions but everyone was having a great time. I love the way Willie starts to sing “yeah yeah” in the verses and persists even though everyone else refuses to take it up until the end. The effort was totally worth it.Outlaw Blues- Queens of the Stone Age, from the Chimes of Freedom covers CDMr Tambourine Man- Lots of choices here but I went for Stevie Wonder.Gates of Eden- Arlo Guthrie.It’s all over now Baby Blue- Them. Van Morrison paying tribute to his hero.Like a Rolling Stone- The Rolling Stones. Jagger nails this song and Keith finds the blues within.From a Buick 6- Chuck Prophet. No I don’t know who he is either but he’s a one man band who makes this really down and dirty.Ballad of a Thin Man, Queen Jane Approximately, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues and Desolation Row- The Grateful Dead. The Dead really understood Dylan and played his songs a lot but for some reason the Highway 61 album was the one they seemed to understand better than any other.Highway 61 revisited. Johnny Winter. There are lots of live versions of Winter doing this and they’re all rip roaringly good.Rainy Day Women 12 and 35- Willie Nile again.Visions of Johanna and Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again- The Grateful Dead again. They understood Dylan so well that he actually wanted to join the band. They told him no. True story.Absolutely Sweet Marie- Jason and the Scorchers. The best thing they ever did.The entire of the John Wesley Harding Album- Thea Gilmore. She covered JWH in its entirety and it’s brilliant from start to finish with only a few others managing to do versions better than hers. Most notably…All Along The Watchtower- Hendrix. The best over ever? I think so. Dylan has said when he performs this song now he’s doing a Hendrix cover. Hendrix also gave us the best cover of Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, although to be fair, not many others have bothered.I dreamed I saw St Augustine- Eric Clapton. Clapton was so out of it during the seventies he probably did see St Augustine at some point so he’s singing from experience.Down Along the Cove- Duane Allman. Duanne Left us too soon. He could have done so many great Dylan covers.If you gotta go, go now- The Cowboy Junkies gave us a great version and appreciated how funny the original was.Positively Fourth Street- Jerry Garcia. I was never thrilled with most JGB Dylan covers, they tended to meander too much, but he got this one right.I’ll Keep It With Mine- Fairport Convention’s best Dylan cover.Wanted Man- You could argue that Johnny Cash’s version of this is a cover since Dylan wrote it for him and never recorded it himself. But I quite like George Thorogood’s version.I wanna be your lover- Yo La Tengo. From the I’m Not There soundtrack.Down in the Flood- The Derek Trucks band, with Susan Tedeschi on vocals. I really wish they’d do whole albums of Dylan covers.Please Mrs Henry- Manfred Man.This Wheels On Fire- The Black Crows. Even better than The Band.Tears of Rage- This is pretty much The Band’s song.I threw it all away- Paul Kelly. Australia’s finest and the closest thing we’ve produced to Dylan. Worth checking out if you’ve missed it.Lay Lady Lay- Cassandra Wilson. Works well sung by a woman.Country Pie- Charlie Daniels. He knows it’s ridiculous and enjoys it just the same.Tonight I’ll be staying here with you- The Black Crowes. One of many live Dylan covers they did in their career.If Not For You- George Harrison. Dylan’s close friend gave us the definitive rendition of this one.Time Passes Slowly- The Magpie Salute, which are basically most of the Black Crowes, still doing Dylan covers in live shows. They also did the best version of Billy from the Pat Garrett album.Down in the Flood- Derek Trucks again. If anyone has his number tell him we want his Dylan album.I Shall Be Released- Chrissie Hynde. Again from the 30th anniversary concert.Knocking on Heaven’s Door- The Grateful Dead again. Better than Guns and Roses. Just better in every way. They also do the best version of When I Paint My Masterpiece. Weir really nailed that song every time he did it.On a Night Like This- Los Lobos. It sounds like one of their songs.Going Going Gone- Gregg Allman. This is just beautiful. I listened to it when Gregg died and I cried. I’m man enough to admit it. Thanks for the music Gregg.Forever Young- The Pretenders. Chrissie does love Bob.You Angel You- New Rides of the Purple Sage. Stop giggling. They were a band. They were. Deadheads know what I’m talking about.Tangled up in Blue- The Indigo girls from their live album 12:00 curfews. Just amazing. This is possibly among my top ten tracks by anyone ever. Seriously.If You See Her Say Hello- Jeff Buckley. I don’t love Buckley as much as other people do but he definitely got this one right.Up to Me- Roger McGuinn. A darn good rendition by the head Byrd.Buckets of Rain- Neko Case. Who is Neko Case? The person who sings this song well. That’s as much as I know.Hurricane- Ani Di Franco. Not many people try this song. Mainly because it hasn’t dated well, it’s long and it’s got the N-word in the middle to negotiate. Ani does it justice. She opened for Bob for a while.Isis- Neal Casal. My pick for one of Dylan’s most overlooked gems.One More Cup of Coffee- Robert Plant. Not so much a cover as an interpretation. And a damn good one.Oh Sister- Black crows live again.Rita May- Jerry Lee Lewis. You could believe The Killer wrote this, but it’s Dylan’s.Changing of the Guard- Frank Black and The Catholics. This works really well in Frank’s hands.No Time To Think- The Belle Brigade. I have no idea who they are but this is one of the standout tracks on the Chimes of Freedom Disc. When Dylan sings this in the studio he seems to perform it as if he’s worried it’s not working. The Belle Brigade make it shine.Senor- Jerry Garcia. He really lives in this song.Seven Days- Ron Wood. This was Ron’s song before it was Dylan’s and Ronnie sings it like he’s trying to sound like Bob anyway. Bob never recorded it but played it live a few times.Walk Out in the Rain- Technically not a cover because Dylan wrote it for Eric Clapton. But if you’ve read this far are you really going to quibble about small details?Slow Train- North Mississippi Allstars. They clearly enjoyed doing this one. It shows.Do Right To Me Baby- Bettye Lavette released entire albums of Dylan covers but this is the only song that nobody else hasn’t done better.Gotta Serve Somebody- Gary Hoey usually does instrumental guitar covers but he included vocals here. But there’s still a lot of blistering guitar for those who like that kind of stuff.Solid Rock- Widespread Panic. The Panic often jammed all the life out of a song but they showed admirable restraint on this one.Are you Ready- Pacific Gas and Electric, to be honest a lot of the covers I’ve chosen for my album of Saved covers are there because nobody else bothered covering them.A Shot of Love- PJ Harvey. When she’s good, nobody can touch her.Property of Jesus- Sinead O’Connor is often annoying but she really hit this one which she recorded back when she and Jesus were on better terms.I need a Woman- Ry Cooder. Why hasn’t he done more Dylan covers?Licence to Kill - Tom Petty. RIP Tom. taken far too soon.Blind Willie McTell- This song needs to be known by more people and the Allman Brothers are the definitive interpreters. They’ve done this live a lot and the version from the Beacon run which they released is just paint-peelingly good.Foot of Pride- Most people ignored this track. Lou Reed didn’t. He realised how good it was and gave us the best version.When the Night Comes Falling from the sky- Jeff Healey. This is turning into a list of great people who are now dead. For which I can only apologize.Death is not the end- Nick Cave and others. Nick Cave recorded this for his Murder Ballads album with a role call of all the guests he’d had. Which means it’s Kylie Minogues contribution to the list.Tweeter and The Monkey Man- This is sort of a cover but sort of not. It’s a song that Dylan wrote and performed with the Travelling Wilburies which Tom Petty was a part of. So when Tom performed it live it wasn’t technically a cover. Still good though.Silvio- Ratdog. Bob Weir realised that this song was a lot of fun and also in the same tempo as Tequila. So he played them both together. It shouldn't work but it does. Bob co-wrote this with Robert Hunter from the Grateful Dead so it’s appropriate that Weir has sort of made it his own song.Everything is Broken- Kenny Wayne Shepherd really howls on this one. That guy can play guitar.Man in the Long Black Coat- Joan Osbourne appears to be one of the few people to realise that this is one of the best songs every recorded by anyone in the 1980’s.What was it you wanted- Willie Nelson has one of the all time great voices and this song is a perfect match.Born in Time- Another great rendition by Eric Clapton. This is from his Pilgrim album.Love Sick- The White Stripes. They’ve done a few Dylan covers. This is their best although I can’t wait is good too.Standing in the Doorway and Million Miles- For some reason Bonnie Raitt really responded to this album and produced two great covers.Sugar Baby- Barb Jungr released an entire album of Dylan covers, This is the only one that wasn’t eclipsed by someone else. It’s actually pretty good.High Water (For Charley Patton) -Joan Osbourne again. She’s really good at giving a great cover of songs that others pass by.Dudquese Whiste- Benmont Tench. Tom Petty’s regular sideman put out a great album recently and this cover of a late Dylan classic is one of the highlights.Final note- the best Dylan covers around are by Bob Dylan. He stopped playing faithful versions of his hits a long time ago and most of the renditions he gives live are covers of his own work, and they’re always fascinating retellings.