Col. O. M. Roberts, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 11.1, Texas
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[148] million of money a day, so shaped as to contribute to Northern sectional interest, is exactly the kind of government from whose power the Southern States sought first to save the Union, and failing there, then appealed to secession to save themselves. The Southern people protested against sectional oppression, and as soon as they could legally declare their independence, they established Democratic constitutional government in protest against all Federal aggression. Their protest was answered by a terrible invasion which they resisted with all their might, and in defeat by greater force they still protest by ballot against all attempts to destroy constitutional government.

For sixty years before the war the Federal government was administered so as not to be the adversary of the agricultural interests of the Southern people, and, as claimed by the Northern people, prejudicial to their commercial and manufacturing interests, which made them dissatisfied and caused a political contention. That difference culminated in the war between the sections, North and South. Since the war for thirty years the national government has been administered in a way to result in promoting the commercial, manufacturing and general moneyed interests of the Northern people, and, as claimed by the Southern people, prejudicial to their agricultural interest, which makes them dissatisfied and causes a continued political contention. The annual expenses of the government before the war never exceeded $60,000,000; since the war they have amounted to over $400,000,000, which is a fair test in determining the character of the government at the two periods.

This seesawing in the policy of the government, with the almighty dollar used as the fulcrum by which to raise up one section and depress the other, with sectional party leverage, is not complimentary to American statesmanship. True patriotism in a republic demands that the productive wealth of every kind, of the whole country,