[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: I'll step up to the plate and do what no one else would dare -- and say the underground railroads were WRONG. We're talking law here. While morally they may have been the right thing to do, legally they were aiding and abetting and conspiring in the theft of property, and smuggling. Let me use a modern example. I may hate SUVs, and, in the future (after we've scorched the sky) it may be a no-brainer that I am morally absolutely right to want to ban such overt abuses of fossil fuels. However, that does not make it legally right for me to vandalize, steal, or destroy SUVs now at this point in history. Another example, in the future it may be a no-brainer that you can't *own* the land, as it's a rather silly concept at base. Until society realizes that, however, it's wrong for me to try to interfere with someone's ownership of their little patch of land. Such are the problems with being Lawful Neutral, you see. And it is a court's job, and a judge's job (while on the job), to be just that.

But the Underground Railroad was not being operated by practicing lawyers and/or judges. Even if individual lawyers or judges aided in the Underground Railroad, it would not have been done in the "official capacity" of their job. They would have to do what the law said during the day and follow what their heart said at night.

But as long as we are talking about upholding the law vs what is morally right, did you know that Abraham Lincoln violated the U.S. Constitution by going to war with the seceding states? Correct me if I'm wrong, counselor, but I believe the U.S. Constitution allows individual states the right to secede from the Union if they so desire. So Abraham Lincoln had no authority to wage war on the Southern States for exercising their right as outlined in the Constitution.

Another little known tidbit...the Civil War was NOT fought over the issue of Slavery. In fact, Lincoln didn't even cite Slavery as a reason for the war until he started facing a lot of criticism and a growing "anti-war" sentiment among the populations of the northern states. Then he used the issue of Slavery as a rallying cause to win back support for the Union's war against the South.

I'm not saying that Lincoln was wrong to do what he did...in fact, history has proven him to be wise beyond his years for taking such actions. America most definitely would NOT be the riegning SuperPower she is today if the Southern states had been allowed to secede. We would have been a divided nation and neither side would be nearly as strong as the unified whole has become.

Just some interesting tidbits to consider.