
What Gets Called ‘Civil War’? - samclemens
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/06/08/what-gets-called-civil-war/
======
dixie_land
that's why we call it the "War between the States"

[http://www.ncwbts150.com/CivilWarorWarBetweentheStates.php](http://www.ncwbts150.com/CivilWarorWarBetweentheStates.php)

~~~
AndyMcConachie
There's very little difference between the terms 'Civil War' and 'War Between
the States'. The former emphasizes the people, while the latter emphasizes
state governments. I prefer Civil War because I am generally predisposed to
thinking of war in more personal tragic terms and not as a struggle between
governments.

Also, from the TFA: "The term “civil war” concedes all that the North ever
claimed, makes [the South] guilty of treason, "

Actually yes, the attack on Fort Sumter was an act of treason. To think of it
otherwise is to partake in hagiography of white southerner's struggle.

~~~
dixie_land
"Actually yes, the attack on Fort Sumter was an act of treason."

Yes, the attack on Fort Sumter _is now considered_ an act of treason, to no
dispute, since the north has won and (probably) the country is better for it.

However, _at the time of the conflict_ , it was the sovereign state of South
Carolina exercising its sovereignty on its territory.

I personally think the emphasis on state sovereignty of the phrase "War
Between the States" is ever more relevant today in the face of the ever
expanding power grab of the federal government.

~~~
empath75
South Carolina wasn't a sovereign state from the day it joined the union.

~~~
hammock
Have you forgotten about the Articles of Confederation? They were created with
the specific goal of maintaining state sovereignty.

~~~
AndyMcConachie
First, the Articles of Confederation were superceded by the Constitution.

Second, Article XIII of the Articles states the union will be perpetual:

"Every State shall abide by the determination of the United States in Congress
assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them.
And the Articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every
State, and the Union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time
hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a
Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures
of every State. "

So I really don't know where you're coming from with this comment.

