United States government truly supreme over states that once called themselves sovereign.
According to historians such as Carl N. Degler, cited above, the changes wrought upon U.S. governance by Abraham Lincoln in the years 1861-65 constituted a far more radical change in the American national evolution than the bloody events of the Civil War itself. Presidents prior to Lincoln, such as northerner Franklin Pierce, would be near-unanimous in their references to the United States as "the general agent," "the creature of the States." It was a neutralist positioning of federal government at best - under some administrations a near-comatose approach to government involvement. Deference to States Rights having precedence over federal intervention was a clearcut and consistent theme. A President such as Andrew Jackson, although known for his autocratic personality
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