By Andrew Sheeler
The Civil War ended 159 years ago, but the language used by the secessionists who started it lives on today, most recently in a statement from Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
In a statement issued last week, Abbott said that “the federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the states” and announced that he was deploying the Texas National Guard and other state public safety personnel to “secure the Texas border.”
GOP Govs. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Ron DeSantis of Florida, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Brian Kemp of Georgia have all said they support Abbott’s actions.
“If the Constitution really made states powerless to defend themselves against an invasion, it wouldn’t have been ratified in the first place and Texas would have never joined the union when it did,” DeSantis said on X, formerly Twitter. “TX is upholding the law while Biden is flouting it.”
Youngkin added that the Biden administration “has turned every state into a border state,” and that Abbott is doing what the border officials “refuse to do to secure our border.”
Stitt, Noem and Kemp also said their states “stand with” Texas.
It’s the word “compact” that draws concern from some, as that is how seven of the 11 seceding states (including Texas) referred to the Constitution in their ordinances of secession, according to Civil War historian Stephen West on Bluesky.
It wasn’t just West that noticed that. The Hill’s Nick Robertson wrote about Abbott’s language choice as well, in an article discussing how GOP governors were rallying around him.
Read more at: Sacramento Bee
The Hill contributed to this report.
1 Comment
It’s funny they are trying to make areas of the state more suburban and nicer to attract more people but allowing immigrants from third world countries in by the boatload. Which is extremely counter productive to the goal. That will only make California like an episode of Hoarders. California the new Hoarder state.