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How Does One Format Pronounciations?

Vincent Berg 🚫

I'm using the following line in my most recent story:

"It's an independent organization, the Allied Intelligence Division or ALLID, pronounced 'al-id', similar to first word, 'allied'.

But I'm wondering how one formats pronunciations? Quotes or no quotes? Single quotes or double quotes? And, if necessary, how do you separate the emphasis marks from the leading single quote mark (other than non-curly quotes).

Any ideas, or has anyone even noticed how this was done in other published novels?

P.S. Actually, the emphasized syllable is denoted by italics, not an additional punctuation mark, so ignore that aspect of the question.

Geek of Ages

@Vincent Berg

Well, in the non-fiction/one-off case, the International Phonetic Alphabetβ€”which is more than just an "alphabet"β€”includes descriptions of typography for these things.

In prose itself, that's more difficult, especially when you take into account that different dialects of English will pronounce things differently (do they have the caught/cot merger? Do they have the pin/pen merger? Do they have the marry/merry/Mary merger?). (Plus, I have a pet peeve when I'm told a description of pronouncing a word using presumably the author's native dialect, which does me not a lick of good most of the time. Like the "o" in "cot" does not, in fact, tell me what vowel it is, believe it or not.)

When I've done it in other writing, I usually take care of it by rhyming or providing a homophoneβ€”or having the narrator (/narrative voice) just say something like "and he pronounced it in a way that it rhymed with strife".

Or just accept that readers will get it wrong even if you lay those signposts, so it's not worth the effort. :D

Replies:   bk69
bk69 🚫

@Geek of Ages

the "o" in "cot"

...is pronounced 'ah' by all civilized, (non-inbred) educated people.

Replies:   Geek of Ages
Geek of Ages

@bk69

My point is that saying that doesn't actually tell me what you mean. Is that RP? AuE? GA? AAVE? I have no idea!

(Also, my spouse is civilized and more educated than I am, and is most certainly not inbredβ€”but has the caught/cot merger. It's quite rude to throw out those sorts of insults.)

Replies:   Dominions Son  bk69
Dominions Son 🚫

@Geek of Ages

My point is that saying that doesn't actually tell me what you mean. Is that RP? AuE? GA? AAVE? I have no idea!

No, it's "ah" as in "Stick out your tongue and say..."

bk69 🚫
Updated:

@Geek of Ages

By 'merger' you mean they're pronounced identically, correct? That is the way they should be pronounced. 'aught' consists of 'ah'+'t' (or 'aw'+'t', those being the same.)

So 'cot'='caw'+'t'

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Vincent Berg

The first time I use something like that I tend to use single apostrophes (quote marks) and italics for it, and then just use normal text from then on.

karactr 🚫
Updated:

Kill joy.

I was having fun.

richardshagrin 🚫

The idea the Northern States went to war to end slavery is wrong. Even the "Emancipation Proclamation" applied only to states in rebellion as of a particular date and was more of an economic attack than support for a distaste for slavery.

Replies:   karactr
karactr 🚫

@richardshagrin

Face it. Slavery wasn't even an issue in The Civil War until the Emancipation Proclamation and the South's victory at Chanhcoriville in 1863. Up to that point, it was just a by product.

The South had slaves. The North had other means.

It was all about the politics.

Same as today.

Michael Loucks 🚫

@karactr

Slavery wasn't even an issue in The Civil War until the Emancipation Proclamation

And the Emancipation Proclamation led to the New York Draft Riots.

Let's just say that the version of Civil War history being promulgated today leaves out significant portions of history. Check out the "Tariff of Abomination" and the "Nullification Crisis", along with discussions of secession by Northern states...

Replies:   karactr
karactr 🚫

@Michael Loucks

You mean like Delaware?

The version of history taught today leaves out significant portions of history, much less Civil War history.

Dominions Son 🚫

@karactr

Slavery wasn't even an issue in The Civil War

The Confederate states seceded over slavery (full stop).

The Union was trying to prevent/undo the secession.

Without the secession, there would have been no civil war. To say slavery wasn't an issue from the beginning is delusional.

Replies:   Michael Loucks  bk69
Michael Loucks 🚫

@Dominions Son

Without the secession, there would have been no civil war. To say slavery wasn't an issue from the beginning is delusional.

As I keep saying, read about the 'Tariff of Abomination' and the 'Nullification Crisis'. The causes (yes, plural) of the Civil War extend FAR beyond slavery.

bk69 🚫

@Dominions Son

The Confederate states seceded over slavery (full stop).

Incorrect.

In 1794 Eli Whitney patented the Cotton Gin. This allowed the variety of cotton grown in the South to be useful to textile mills, as otherwise it was quite labor-intensive to separate the seeds and fiber. Unfortunately, his patent was American. This meant textile mills in Boston, New York, etc. had to pay high prices to buy their machines. European textile mills just grabbed copies of the patents, sent them as schematics to manufacturers, and had lower-cost equipment made for themselves.
This allowed European textile mills to have lower costs than (northern) US textile mills, when using (southern) US cotton. For some strange reason, the northern states was of the opinion that this meant that they should be the sole market for the cotton grown in the south. Now, when you have a captive seller, particularly of a commodity good, the end result is that the seller (in this case the southern states) only gets what whatever the buyer decides to let the seller have.
Oddly, the southern states didn't think being forced to sell to only one market (and one that wasn't willing to pay world market prices) was all that good of idea.
This (and the industrial/agricultural bases of the two regions) was the real source of conflict, which started long before the North took the first military action against the South.

Replies:   Michael Loucks
Michael Loucks 🚫

@bk69

Oddly, the southern states didn't think being forced to sell to only one market (and one that wasn't willing to pay world market prices) was all that good of idea.
This (and the industrial/agricultural bases of the two regions) was the real source of conflict, which started long before the North took the first military action against the South.

Hence my references to the Tariff of Abomination and the Nullification Crisis (just two of the many reasons for the Civil War).

History is no longer being taught in schools.

Replies:   bk69
bk69 🚫

@Michael Loucks

Hence my references to the Tariff of Abomination and the Nullification Crisis (just two of the many reasons for the Civil War).

I hadn't read to the bottom of the thread to catch that before posting.

Although I'm not sure that those terms came up when I'd learned the history. In a economics class.

karactr 🚫

Damn, misspelt Chanchelorville.

Michael Loucks 🚫
Updated:

How long before sources which accurately report the lead up to the Civil War are purged as 'hate' speech or 'fake news' because the 'received' versions of events say they never happened?

awnlee jawking 🚫
Updated:

Looking at the topic title, I think Crumbly Writer is afraid of killer nuns. ;-)

AJ

Replies:   richardshagrin  joyR
richardshagrin 🚫

@awnlee jawking

killer nuns

The army can send a single file formation or a column of twos after you, but only some religious authorities can send a column of nuns.

joyR 🚫

@awnlee jawking

killer nuns

" If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the Killer Nuns". "These women don't fuck around"

Replies:   karactr  bk69
karactr 🚫

@joyR

"These women don't fuck around"

Except with, presumably, God. Or maybe the Trinity can go for air-tight?

Replies:   joyR
joyR 🚫

@karactr

Except with, presumably, God. Or maybe the Trinity can go for air-tight?

Now that is an image I doubt will get painted as a mural in a monastery.

Since most nuns belong to a church that does not consider marriage valid until it is consummated, they are called 'brides of christ' not 'wives of christ'.

Presumably he set this up so that a mass divorce didn't bankrupt him, not to mention him losing half of heaven in the divorce.

Which would happen, since all the lawyers are in hell...

Replies:   bk69
bk69 🚫

@joyR

Which would happen, since all the lawyers are in hell...

You'd think he'd be able to argue for a change of venue, so the lawyers couldn't appear in court...

bk69 🚫

@joyR

" If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the Killer Nuns"

What's their van like?

Dominions Son 🚫
Updated:

@bk69

What's their van like?

The don't drive a van. They use a small chapel on tank tracks.

The top of the steeple is an air cannon named "Smite the Wicked" that fires an endless supply of blessed rulers.

Replies:   madnige  Ernest Bywater
madnige 🚫

@Dominions Son

...and a water cannon squirting Holy Water?

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Dominions Son

The top of the steeple is an air cannon named "Smite the Wicked" that fires an endless supply of blessed rulers.

But the heavy weapon is the giant cross which is a rail gun that fires silver coated steel crosses with the end of the upright sharpened to a point.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@bk69

What's their van like?

You think nuns enjoy cock au van?

AJ

Replies:   bk69
bk69 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Was just sticking with the A-Team reference.

Dominions Son 🚫

does that mean that I'm not civilized or educated, and am in-bred?

No, It means you aren't from the part of the US that lost the Civil War.

Those who are will think you are uncivilized and uneducated, and maybe in-bred, but they don't have as much room to talk on those things as they imagine they do.

Replies:   richardshagrin
richardshagrin 🚫

@Dominions Son

the part of the US that lost the Civil War.

I think they refer to it as "the war of Northern Aggression".

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@richardshagrin

I think they refer to it as "the war of Northern Aggression".

Genuinely civilized people don't give a rat's ass what the losers call it.

Replies:   karactr
karactr 🚫

@Dominions Son

Genuinely civilized people don't give a rat's ass what the losers call it.

Oh, because today's republic is doing so much better than a confederation could have.

For a supposed civilized person, that is not a very civil stand point.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@karactr

Oh, because today's republic is doing so much better than a confederation could have.

That has nothing to do with it. It's about why they seceded.

Replies:   bk69  karactr
bk69 🚫

@Dominions Son

You mean because the North's textile mills wanted to force the South to sell cotton to them for nothing, instead of selling it on the free market?

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@bk69

You mean because the North's textile mills wanted to force the South to sell cotton to them for nothing, instead of selling it on the free market?

No.

karactr 🚫

@Dominions Son

You cast aspersions on the confederacy (inbred, uneducated, uncivilized, etc.) simply because they lost. I look around at your winning union's republic and see clear evidence of too much federal power.

Who is right or wrong is immaterial. However, those prejudiced asses that make over generalizations based on limited actual knowledge, I tend to ignore.

Nekulturne bastich.

bk69 🚫

Boomers are the absolute worst.

Pretty much. Millenials are almost as bad.

bk69 🚫

Dunno what you're talking about.

As generations go, Boomers are the absolute worst, followed by millennials.

bk69 🚫

Boomers (and their grandparents who elected FDR) fucked everything up enough. Millennials are just whiny entitled brats.

bk69 🚫

Boomers are the whiny, entitled brats

s/brats/shitheads

But otherwise, yeah.

karactr 🚫

Funny. All of the actual secession documents I've read (which is admittedly only like, half of the states, not all of them) all straight-out said that they were seceding so they could maintain their system of torture, rape, and forced labor of human beings.

Interesting. I just reread all of the secession documents (the internet is a marvelous thing) and even after trying a "find" for torture, rape, and forced labor i didn't see an instance of any of those terms in any of them. I did find references to slave-holding states (Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama), but that seemed to be more of a separation point from the Northeast U.S. (where slavery was confined to indenture, debtor's prisons, and sweatshops) than anything else. And Texas seemed more perturbed by the federal government breaking it's own pacts than anything else (no slaves in Texas, but the union wasn't holding up it's end according to that once sovereign nation).

Most of those documents state a clear dissatisfaction with the federal government's interference in state affairs (port blockades, tariffs, armed incursions, lack of assistance with enemies foreign and domestic, etc.) and, therefore, chose to "opt-out" of a nation that was no longer beneficial and that they no longer wanted to be a part of. The Confederacy just wanted to be left alone.

But the Union couldn't afford that, so the north declared war. The "war of Northern aggression" is not just a phrase, it's a fact. Well, possibly more an interpretation of events. What DO you call people who will not take "No" for an answer?

karactr 🚫

At any point in my posts did I espouse slavery? Yes, slavery is bad. The human race is bad because slavery in one form or the other has been endemic in every culture throughout all of recorded history. I would even go so far as to say throughout all of the unrecorded history as well.

And??

Slavery in the U.S. South was a labor force inherited from the British. Trifecta trade route because what can you export from Africa to the Carribian while trying to make money in Europe? Prevailing winds, tides, currents and all that. It is less economical to sail straight to the West Indies from England. Go through Africa first, it's an easier trip. Besides, they will sell you the neighboring tribe...cheap.

But that initial cheap labor was becoming increasingly more expensive. Economics would have ended slavery in the South with much less anguish. Why pay $500 for a slave when I can pay $15 for a cotton mill and $0.05 per day in labor. Or $0.02 a day, which was common during Reconstruction.

And why these concepts of torture, etal are so prevalent in your posts is beyond me. Do you torture your car? Your house? Your clothes? Of course not. Those are just things. Property. So were slaves, expensive property at that. Why would a sane person abuse a labor force to the extent that it could not labor?

Were there abuses? Humans being humans (ie. evil), of course. Were there sexual assaults? Yes. Were there physical punishments (your word, torture)? Yes. Were families separated? Yes. Was there forced labor? Yes.

And??

How is this different from most of human history?

By the way; can I come and steal your car? Transport it across state lines? If your property disappears, you're not going to complain, are you? You don't want a neighboring state to help you get it back? Of course not.

Also,btw, while I was born in the U.S. South, my family is not from the South. (Outside of my paternal great-grandmother. Cherokee girl. Born and raised in Alabama until they forced her to move, but she came back.) As a matter of fact, the majority of my ancestors weren't even in the U.S until after the Civil War (excluding the Native American links and the maternal Rhode Island links going back to the 1600's. DAR's, what can you do?) so I really don't even have a bone to pick in this fight. Except, you use an over-loaded brush to paint over much of history. That, I find offensive. Therefore, I object to it.

Not that I expect you to listen to my side.

And, how was the Confederacy traitorous? All 7 original confederate states made their intentions known that they were disatified with the federal government. They did that for years before the seceession. They all submitted legal documents seceeding from that union. How is following the law traitorous?

Oh, as an aside, I don't have an "immortal" (your word) soul. There are no second chances. There are no take backs. This is the life you get. Make the best of it.

Our ancestors f***** it up. We aren't doing any better.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

The notion that the Civil War and the attempted secessions were about anything other than fundamentally maintaining the perpetual existence of that evil was largely a fiction invented by the survivors to justify why they had committed treason.

People, if you want to have a lengthy discussion about the politics of slavery and the US civil war let us ask Lazeez for approval for such a specific thread an trash it out there, and not here.

I will make a few points that came out from my research of source material of that era:

1. Those in power in the Southern states pushed for and started the war.

2. Over 90% of those who fought for the South didn't believe in slavery but truly thought they were defending their state's rights to make it's own laws on most issues.

3. over 90% of those who fought for the North truly believed they were fighting to save the Union and the country as a single entity.

4. Over 90% of those fighting didn't give a damn about slavery at all, for or against.

Replies:   karactr  joyR
karactr 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

While I don't agree with the first point, I can't argue about the other three. TY.

I just like playing devil's advocate.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@karactr

I just like playing devil's advocate.

But my ex-wife didn't hire you for that job, she hired her sister for it.

Replies:   karactr
karactr 🚫
Updated:

@Ernest Bywater

But my ex-wife didn't hire you for that job, she hired her sister for it.

Sorry for your troubles. She should have hired me. You may have lost.

:p

joyR 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

People, if you want to have a lengthy discussion about the politics of slavery and the US civil war let us ask Lazeez for approval for such a specific thread an trash it out there, and not here.

I think your suggestion would have been stronger if you hadn't continued the post by adding to the 'discussion'.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@joyR

I think your suggestion would have been stronger if you hadn't continued the post by adding to the 'discussion'.

I was hoping to end the discussion in this thread. I'm happy to continue in a specific thread, as long as Lazeez agrees as it can only get political if it goes further and that can cause some heartaches Lazeez doesn't need people bitching about.

Replies:   karactr
karactr 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

I'm not trying to get political, just historical.

Actually, just trying to tweak.

Is that what they mean by flaming?

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@karactr

Is that what they mean by flaming?

No as you didn't use any petrol and tweaking is a form of dance.

Replies:   bk69
bk69 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

tweaking is a form of dance.

'twerking' is a form of dance.

'tweaking' is being high on meth

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@bk69

'tweaking' is being high on meth

oh, maybe it was a typo because I thought it was to be high on math.

Michael Loucks 🚫

was slavery. Period, full stop.

Proof positive that this is incorrect is found in Lincoln's support for the original 13th Amendment.

He said:

"I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitutionβ€”which amendment, however, I have not seenβ€”has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service ... holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable."

I agree this debate belongs elsewhere, but it's improper to ignore the full range of causes for the Civil War. This is history. It shouldn't be erased.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@Michael Loucks

but it's improper to ignore the full range of causes for the Civil War.

There is some truth to this, but it's equally improper to pretend that succession was not the first and foremost cause of the Civil War, and that Slavery was first and foremost among the stated causes of succession by the seceding states.

Michael Loucks 🚫

@Dominions Son

There is some truth to this, but it's equally improper to pretend that succession was not the first and foremost cause of the Civil War, and that Slavery was first and foremost among the stated causes of succession by the seceding states.

One could equally say that the Civil War was caused by Lincoln invading the sovereign state of Virginia. There is nothing in the US Constitution which prevents a state from seceding.

The causes are many and complex, and slavery was one of them.

Dominions Son 🚫
Updated:

@Michael Loucks

One could equally say that the Civil War was caused by Lincoln invading the sovereign state of Virginia.

He sent a resupply mission to a US military facility that existed before the secession. He did not invade Virginia.

And Virginia didn't even attempt to negotiate a peaceful turnover of Fort Sumpter, they just attacked it.

There is nothing in the US Constitution which prevents a state from seceding.

There is also nothing in the US Constitution which authorizes a state seceding.

The causes are many and complex, and slavery was one of them.

By the very statements of the states seceding, of the causes, slavery was the first and most important.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Michael Loucks

There is nothing in the US Constitution which prevents a state from seceding.

Sorry, but there is nothing in the US Constitution that allows the states to secede, and the US Constitution is an agreement between the people, not the states, unlike the previous state agreement documents that included the words 'Perpetual Union' in them.

Michael Loucks 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

Sorry, but there is nothing in the US Constitution that allows the states to secede, and the US Constitution is an agreement between the people, not the states, unlike the previous state agreement documents that included the words 'Perpetual Union' in them.

Given that the US Constitution is a document written to authorize a limited set of federal powers, there doesn't need to be. The thing is, there is, in the 9th and 10th Amendments, the authority of the people to secede, as there is no Federal power granted to prevent it.

The fact that the Constitution has been turned on its head doesn't change the facts.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Michael Loucks

Given that the US Constitution is a document written to authorize a limited set of federal powers, there doesn't need to be. The thing is, there is, in the 9th and 10th Amendments, the authority of the people to secede, as there is no Federal power granted to prevent it.

Funny you should mention this, a story I have in progress that I started back in 2019 on how you to allow for the legal secession from the USA union, but it can't be legally done simply by a state saying they're out, which is what was tried in the 1860s.

Replies:   Michael Loucks
Michael Loucks 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

Funny you should mention this, a story I have in progress that I started back in 2019 on how you to allow for the legal secession from the USA union, but it can't be legally done simply by a state saying they're out, which is what was tried in the 1860s.

"Can't be legally done" - so, of course, the Courts simply ordered the seceding states to return, and they did. Or not.

The fact that an invasion was necessary tells me that they COULD secede. The remaining states in the union disagreed, and used military action to forcibly bring them back. The behavior of the courts/Congress in the matter was schizophrenic, at times acting as if they were not part of the union and at times acting as if they were, depending on the political needs of the moment.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Michael Loucks

The fact that an invasion was necessary tells me that they COULD secede.

The fighting started when state militia fired upon Fort Sumpter, then the federal government sent troops to deal with the armed rebellion. So there was no invasion.

Replies:   Michael Loucks  bk69
Michael Loucks 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

So there was no invasion.

Tell Virginia. Fort Sumter would have been an anomaly without that.

Sending reinforcements could be seen as a provocation. Just ask the mayor of Portland (and some other big-city mayors). They're making the SAME complaints that South Carolina did, which is why I've pointed to Fort Sumter when discussing those current events...

Dominions Son 🚫

@Michael Loucks

Sending reinforcements could be seen as a provocation.

It wasn't reinforcements, it was supplies, food particularly.

The fort was there as an active US military base before the secession. Virginia could have allowed the resupply of the garrison then negotiated for a peaceful turn over. They chose to attack the fort instead.

Michael Loucks 🚫

@Dominions Son

It wasn't reinforcements, it was supplies, food particularly.

The fort was there as an active US military base before the secession. Virginia could have allowed the resupply of the garrison then negotiated for a peaceful turn over. They chose to attack the fort instead.

You're conflating South Carolina and Virginia. The Fort was in South Carolina and was being resupplied/reinforced.

Virginia was invaded by Union troops looking to force them back into the Union.

Darian Wolfe 🚫

@Dominions Son

Why would you allow your enemy to resupply when you intend to take the ground they are standing on? I don't understand. You want then worrying about supplies AND the fact they are cut off. It makes them more willing to negotiate surrender. If they refuse to surrender a week or so of starvation makes then weak and easier to attack.

Could you please explain the wisdom of allowing them to resupply before negotiation? The idea is so foreign to my way of thinking that I don't understand it.

Michael Loucks 🚫

@Darian Wolfe

Could you please explain the wisdom of allowing them to resupply before negotiation? The idea is so foreign to my way of thinking that I don't understand it.

We've come to a point where facts no longer matter. All that matters is the belief that North==holy, South==evil, and anything which upsets that simplistic notion of the Civil War is rejected out of hand. E.g. the 'full stop' claims above about the purported 'sole cause' despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.

Replies:   paliden
paliden 🚫

@Michael Loucks

We've come to a point where facts no longer matter. All that matters is the belief that North==holy, South==evil, and anything which upsets that simplistic notion of the Civil War is rejected out of hand.

And we can thank the school system for that - elementary through college.

Dominions Son 🚫
Updated:

@Darian Wolfe

Why would you allow your enemy to resupply when you intend to take the ground they are standing on? I don't understand.

My suggestion was for an attempt to negotiate a peaceful hand over of the fort with the Union government rather than just attacking. Starving the garrison while negotiations are in progress would not help on that front.

Because they just attacked, I conclude that they intended to go to war with the Union from the very beginning.

Replies:   Michael Loucks
Michael Loucks 🚫

@Dominions Son

Because they just attacked, I conclude that they intended to go to war with the Union from the very beginning.

They attacked because the North chose provocation - sending supplies and potential reinforcements (e.g. Naval Militia, created from the ships' companies).

richardshagrin 🚫

@Michael Loucks

Tell Virginia. Fort Sumter would have been an anomaly without that.

Not Virginia.

"Fort Sumter - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

The First Battle of Fort Sumter began on April 12, 1861, when South Carolina Militia artillery fired on the Union garrison. These were some of the first shots of the war and continued all day, watched by many civilians in a celebratory spirit. The fort had been cut off from its supply line and surrendered the next day."

Replies:   Michael Loucks
Michael Loucks 🚫
Updated:

@richardshagrin

Not Virginia.

"Fort Sumter - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

Above, the two were being conflated, and that's what I was correcting.

When I referred to an actual invasion, I meant Virginia. The resupply/reinforcement actions in Charleston were not the 'invasion' I was referring to (because it wasn't - the forces were already at Fort Sumter).

See, among others: Battle of Philippi, Battle of Big Bethel, and more importantly First Bull Run (Manassas).

Prior to Philippi, which was a Union invasion of Virginia, Sewell's Point and Aquia Creek, both in Virginia, were sites of naval gunfire or shelling of naval units.

Virginia was invaded by the Union Army and it wasn't just a resupply/reinforcement mission of a garrisoned harbor fort.

bk69 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

So there was no invasion.

By the army, no.

The Navy, on the other hand, did.

Michael Loucks 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

Sorry, but there is nothing in the US Constitution that allows the states to secede, and the US Constitution is an agreement between the people, not the states, unlike the previous state agreement documents that included the words 'Perpetual Union' in them.

Funny thing - all powers not expressly delegated to the federal government were reserved 'to the states, or the people'.

Replies:   Dominions Son
Dominions Son 🚫

@Michael Loucks

Funny thing - all powers not expressly delegated to the federal government were reserved 'to the states, or the people'.

But is secession a power at all? The Constitution can be viewed as a contract between the peoples of the various states. By seceding unilaterally, a state is breaching that contract.

Replies:   Michael Loucks
Michael Loucks 🚫

@Dominions Son

But is secession a power at all? The Constitution can be viewed as a contract between the peoples of the various states. By seceding unilaterally, a state is breaching that contract.

One can always breach a contract. In the US, at least, courts often use equity, not specific performance, to remedy breaches. This is especially true when the breach is performing anything more than a simple transfer of title or handover of property.

If I contract to sell you a house, and you turn over the funds as per the sales contract, the courts will order me to turn over title and possession of the property, assuming there hasn't been some intervening action which makes that difficult.

If I contract to build a wall for you, an fail, the most likely result in court is monetary damages, not the court ordering me to build the wall and supervising that activity. The more complex the contract, the more likely the result will be monetary damages, not specific performance.

Remember, too, the vast majority of federal power over the states comes through the threat of withholding funds from the state, not actual power to impose the law, rule, or regulation. (See, for example, the National Maximum Speed Limit law). Had the 17 Amendment not passed, that kind of power could never exist, as the states wouldn't have permitted those kinds of laws (or unfunded mandates based on other funded mandates) to pass.

This is history and judicial branch tuff, but it's darned close to politics.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Dominions Son

Slavery was first and foremost among the stated causes of succession by the seceding states.

It would be much more factually accurate to say: "The fear of the end of slavery by Federal Law was the first and foremost concern of the states wanting to secede from the union." However, the existing Federal Laws at that time clearly stated the Federal government could not pass laws for or against slavery and stated that was an issue for the states to decide for themselves. However, due to the events of the Civil War those laws got repealed and changed late in the war or after it.

Darian Wolfe 🚫

Side note: I spent my first nine years in Ohio. I also have a distinct Southern accent from living in the South for twenty years after that. I had a professor who had an ear for English dialects who told me that I was from Ohio. He could hear the remaining Yankee traces that the greater majority of Southerners I lived with could not.

I can tell when somebody was raised within 50 miles of where I lived in the South by their accent. Because certain pronunciations and inflections are native to us.

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