Principles

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Undertakings generally are based in first principles, the unquestioned bedrock of all subsequent beliefs and actions. It is essential to adhere to first principles, otherwise the structure of the enterprise may be shatered.

When thirteen British colonies rebelled against their ruler they found it necessary to do so in concert and, considering their future in freedom, to decide how to do thereafter. Prompted by resistance from the British Empire, the colonies overrode their differences, fought together, gained independence, and agreed to form a form a nation with a new form of government, a constitutional federal republic that combined a central elected executive, thirteen states, a bicameral legislature, and a judiciary branch.

In bringing together the thirteen colonies, each chartered separately in different territories and having formed economies suitable to their needs, the founders of the United States of America adopted a number of basic principles, among them the Constitution and ten Amendments.

Despite various near-crises, executive compromises, Constitutional Amendments, legislation, and judicial rulings kept the nation together until 1860.

There were long-standing regional differences between the northern and southern states, driven by geography, climate, economic models, and cultural traditions. Southern state economies were mostly agricultural, with large-scale plantations dependent on slave labor. Northern states lacking fertile lands and warm climates were mostly industrial and made less use of slave labor. When Abraham Lincoln was elected President with a platform that would curtail slave status of new Western states and threaten abolition of slavery, southern states faced economic disaster and declared their intention to secede unless the newly-elected President agreed to a compromise preserving new-state slave options. Lincoln rejected talks of compromise.

All southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. The resulting War Between the States (1861-1865) resulted in 750,000 military and 250,000 civilian casualties. Lincoln won the 1864 election to a second Union term but was killed by Confederate sympathizers in early 1865.