I wish more could be known about the settlement patterns and cultural history of Arizona Territory and Southern California up until the mid-twentieth century. This seems to be a little researched area of American and Southern history, as is their role in the war.

The best thing to do now is to abandon Arizona(and New Mexico) to their fate. Sort of like the abandonment of the province Dacia Traiana, roughly modern day Romania, by the emperor Aurelian. The French evacuation of Algeria also comes to mind. In exchange, we can arrange to herd all Mexicans-legal and illegal-dispersed across the country, into their new pen.

The benefits of such a policy would far outweigh it's cost.

To modify a phrase: Give it (Arizona) back to the Indios.

The war to which you refer was not a civil war.

Justitia at @ 13

I submit that we have indeed had a civil war, just not the one to which Mr. Rafferty refers. There was, I contend, a civil war in the aftermath of the War Against Southern Independence, particularly in the period called Reconstruction In my state, Louisiana various groups, militias, vigilantes operated, in many cases with terror, against the state-sponsored terrorism of the Republican Party, for which the federal army had essentially become a private army, often engaged but just as often behind the scenes, supporting the party militias of the carpetbaggers, scalawags and black Republicans, the last being the marionettes of their corrupt Republican masters.

I do not know if there has been any research on black Democrats during Reconstruction. The only time I heard the term it was used by my maternal grandmother to describe two black slaves, actually former slaves, who had been the body servants of masters killed in the war. They had gotten the bodies of their masters home and then returned to the Army of Tennessee in some capacity, however, with their freedom. She knew of them because they had walked home after the surrender of the Army of Tennessee in North Carolina with my great grandfather. Both, according to what my great grandfather had told his daughter-in-law, my grandmother, had become Democrats and had paid for that with their lives, killed by some Republican militia or vigilante group, perhaps even federal soldiers. My grandmother said that my great grandfather had said that revenge was taken for their being killed. My great grandfather, I was told, did participate in the so-called Colfax Massacre which effectively ended Republican control in the carpetbag parish of Grant. I would call that civil war.

Bryan @14

Indeed, the fault line which runs through American culture and the forces associated with that fault line are just as real and relevant today as they were in 1860, sans those who were subordinate members of Southern households in the form of domestic servants or slaves.

The issues of trade, of a national bank (Federal Reserve), of cheap fiat currency or a currency based on specie, of a consolidated and centralized Hobbesian state versus a union of constitutionally federated republics, of immigration, etc. are still with us. For me, most importantly, the South, be it ever so shrunken, weakened and fading, made up of a diminishing remnant, remains the enemy of "those people." We seem to be the last stronghold, perhaps merely a feeble hold, of the West, that still claims some geographic integrity.

Allen Wilson @ 17

Given the Snow Bird immigrants into Arizona since WWII, I suppose that Arizona is not a Southern state, having been admitted to the Union long after the war was over; however, it was a Southern territory and had, among others, Company A of the Arizona Rangers. Arizona scouts fought with us here in Louisiana during the various campaigns, including the Red River Campaign during which they were attached to Tom Green's Texas Cavalry. One hopes that somewhere in Arizona, the spirit of these Rangers still exists.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Those of us in Arizona Law Enforcement have recently viewed a mandatory, two hour training film by Az POST: The Peace Officer Training and Standards board that establishes uniform standards for all agencies in the state. In addtition, we are mandated to attend two hours additional training before July 30th.

While the training film was professionally done, it was redundant beyond all scope in one oft quoted area: RACIAL PROFILING. The term was repeated so many times in two hours, that officers have dicussed putting a new twist on the "get blitzed" quick game so popular in the 70s with the Bob Newhart Show-back when TV shows were reasonably entertaining. You know: everytime someone said "Bob" you had to take a drink! I think in the first 30 minutes I heard the term "Racial Profiling" 25 times.

Anyway, I think out here in the Wild West, us good guys with the badge u'll just holster our six guns and do business as usual-following the law.

I think I agree. None of us has a crystal ball, but who is to say the feds won't try invading? What if Arizona loses the lawsuit(s) or the people merely grow weary with them? They may decide that the lawless legal system is futile and more drastic means are necessary. The folks can only take so much.

We are indeed living in interesting times.

That's too bad, because a federal invasion would be just what the doctor ordered. It would drive home a lot of ugly truths to a lot of people all over the union, and that would tear it to shreds.

MAP #11
A former U.S. Senator from Mississippi said during the 1861-65 war(I paraphrase), "The principal we now contest is bound to reassert itself, perhaps in another time and in another form". Well, here we are.

Unfortunately even the most strident critics of this administration will draw a blank look upon hearing the exact quote and who the originator was. They can't grasp the parallel of the times, ignorant or deluded products of the American mythology taught in the public schools. This is particularly so of Midwest Republicans.

Interesting how Obama utilizes the Federal court against Arizona while ignoring and in contempt of another Federal court banning offshore drilling in the Gulf. Speaking of parallels doesn't this remind you of another American president?