A 19th century debate will take center stage early next year in Kankakee.
On Jan. 2, the Kankakee Valley Civil War Round Table will hold a debate on the question, “Was secession legal in the Civil War?”
Steve DePasquale, a history professor at Kankakee Community College, will argue secession was legal, and Champaign attorney Brett Kepley will take the opposite position.
Roy VanOstrand, program chairman for the round table, said he was planning to have DePasquale speak at a monthly meeting, but then he figured the group should get both sides of the debate, so he sought Kepley.
“I want to believe secession is not legal, but we want to hear the facts. We’ll see what the evidence is,” VanOstrand said in an interview.
The event will include a panel of three judges. They will decide who has the better argument or determine that the answer is unknown. They must explain their reasoning.
“The judges should be neutral. We’ll have judges who have no interest in the Civil War and are unbiased on the issue,” VanOstrand said.
The rules will be strict during the debate — no filibustering, barbs, heckling or interruptions.
In an interview, DePasquale said there is nothing in the Constitution that bars secession.
“Each former colony was an independent country. It was not clear when they joined that it was perpetual, kind of like the European Union,” the professor said. “South Carolina (the first state to secede) honestly felt that it could get out of the union.”
The Constitution, he said, set up a system in which the federal and state governments were “somewhat equal.”
“That’s why every state has two senators. That’s why states run elections. That’s why states run the electoral college,” DePasquale said. “States were not willing to give up all their authority.”
The public is invited to the debate.
<strong>What:</strong> Kankakee Valley Civil War Round Table Debate: “Was secession legal in the Civil War?”
<strong>When:</strong> 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2
<strong>Where:</strong> Fourth floor, Kankakee Public Library, 201 E. Merchant St.