Cajuns UncagedrnLouisiana Declares Itself a Sovereign Staternby Michael Dan JonesrnWhile many modern historians, hberal pohHcians, andrnmedia eHtes would like to think that the very concept ofrn”state sovereignt}'” died when Robert E. Lee offered his swordrnto Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9,rn1865, the people of one state recently gave state sovereignt)’ arnringing endorsement at the ballot box. On October 3, 1998, 56rnpercent of Louisianians approved Amendment 11, which declares:rnThe people of this state have the sole and exclusive rightrnof governing themselves as a free and sovereign state; andrndo, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy cver-rnpower, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, whichrnis not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegatedrnto the United States in Congress assembled.rnThe statement is now part of the Louisiana constitution’s “Declarationrnof Rights.”rnWhile much disparaged by those who look upon the UnitedrnStates as one, indivisible nation, state sovereignt)’ is a conceptrnthat dates back to the very foundation of the American confederation.rnThat each state was “independent” and “sovereign”rnwas claimed in many of the founding documents, includingrnthe Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation,rnthe Treat)’ of Paris, and, a littie later, the Kentucky andrnMichael Dan ]ones, a newspaper reporter in Lake Charles,rnLouisiana, is co-author of Lee’s Foreigir Legion: A Histor)’ ofrnthe 10th Louisiana hifantrv’ Regiment.rnVirginia resolutions. Many, if not most, of the Founding Fathersrnlooked upon state sovereignty as an indispiftable fact.rnSenator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina greatly expandedrnupon and refined Thomas Jefferson’s doctrine of states’rnrights. When the Southern states exercised their sovereignrnrights in 1860-61 to withdraw the powers they had delegated tornthe government of the United States and declared their independence,rnthey believed they stood on firm moral, constitutional,rnand legal grounds.rnIn the recent election, voters in Louisiana showed that thesernbeliefs are still deeply held by the people of at least one state.rnWhile other state legislatmes have passed “Tenth Amendment”rnresolutions in recent years, the people of Louisiana achiallyrnaffirmed what Jefferson Davis always called the “Causernof the South”—state sovereignty.rnLouisianians have a long history of carefully consideringrnproposed constitutional amendments and rejecting those theyrndo not like. It is significant, therefore, that this one garneredrnsupport all over the state. The measure passed in 55 of Loinsiana’srn64 parishes. It won by a landslide in the central andrnsouthwestern parts of the state; fittingly, it garnered 74 percentrnof the vote in the southwestern parish of Jefferson Davis. In 23rnparishes. Amendment 11 won 60 percent or more of the vote.rnThe amendment narrowly lost in several of the state’s urbanrnareas, including Orleans Parish (New Orleans), Caddo Parishrn(Shreveport), and East Baton Rouge Parish, though it receivedrnbetween 47 and 49 percent in each. But other urban areas supportedrnit, including Lafayette Parish (Lafayette), CalcasieurnParish (Lake Charles), Rapides Parish (Alexandria), and Oua-rnAPRIL 1999/19rnrnrn