During the recent upheaval within the former Soviet Union many wondered if Russia, their largest state, would take action against the much smaller dissenting states. How would world opinion have reacted if the Russian military had moved into Georgia or the Ukraine and opened fire on the dissidents? This possibility caused me to think about an event on our own soil a little over a century ago.

The War Between the States gives us this scenario. The Southern states thought they had every right to secede from the Union and establish their own country "the Confederate States of America." They put their beliefs into actions. The Union took the position that individual states could not secede from the Union. Putting their beliefs into action, they invaded the South. They viewed the conflict as a civil war. The South saw it as one nation invading another nation without any warrant for so doing.