Alright, maybe touchy. If this turns into a flame war, I'll be the first to ask that it's closed. Anyway, the Civil War arose out of a dispute amongst the states North vs. South of the Mason-Dixon line over the rights of individual states vs. the authority of the federal government. Discussion anyone?
Poll
What was the issue of contention in the Civil War?
| Slavery (I saw Roots, I know what's up) | 7% | 7% - 2 | ||||
| States Rights | 84% | 84% - 22 | ||||
| Guns N Roses (I hate you.) | 7% | 7% - 2 | ||||
| Total: 26 | ||||||
People like to think it's about slavery because of the novelty.
But really it was about rights.
But really it was about rights.
there was no one single casue for the civil war. both issues hold equal weight
yeah, and lots of money that could be made. >_<AlphaMale wrote:
People like to think it's about slavery because of the novelty.
But really it was about rights.
The only reason slavery entered into it as an issue was PR after the fact. The arguement always circled around states' rights. After victory, the North was free to apply its legislation, which happened to include the abolition of slavery, among other things.GunSlinger OIF II wrote:
there was no one single casue for the civil war. both issues hold equal weight
I would like to add, that the North did not free the slaves at that time. In order for the slaves to be free they had to serve in the Army. Therefore, the North basically traded the work on plantations for work in the Army.puckmercury wrote:
The only reason slavery entered into it as an issue was PR after the fact. The arguement always circled around states' rights. After victory, the North was free to apply its legislation, which happened to include the abolition of slavery, among other things.GunSlinger OIF II wrote:
there was no one single casue for the civil war. both issues hold equal weight
I'm not a racist, and I don't condone slavery, where this kind of thing pisses me off is that this notion that it was fought over slavery is often used to paint all white southerners or just white country folk in general, whether they are from the midwest or western deserts or anywhere other than a city, as racist, here's a copy and paste of what I wrote on this in another thread
the war was fought as a matter of federalism and state's rights primarily, and as a matter of congressional voting power for the states secondarily,
lincoln and others wanted to consolidate the nation's government under DC creating a nation in which the states answered to the federal government, as opposed to the states telling the fed what to do (this is the basic meaning of "confederate states of america"),
there was also a power struggle between the more industrialized states and the agricultural states in that the ag states wanted the slave population to be counted as genereal population allowing them to have more seats in the house of representatives, the industrialized states arguing that the slaves were not allowed to vote and were not subject to representation
but it all falls back to the matter of federalization, this is evidenced in part by the fact that there were non-slave states in the confederacy and there would have been more, even New York, if Lincoln had not had there governors and other legislative leaders jailed for treason
there wasn't a noble and glorious mission to end slavery, it didn't even come up until about 3 years into the war, in fact if you read Lincoln's "emancipation proclamation" carefully you will see that it saw the slaves more as property to be confiscated from the CSA like livestock and plantations, as they were getting sick of Lee handing them their asses on a regular basis and decided that if they could not defeat the CSA armies strategically they would defeat them by attacking civilian targets and burning food stores and such, this was the basic principle behind Sherman's march to the sea, avoid militia, confiscate everything (slaves included), burn what you couldn't confiscate
once the confiscated slaves made it north of the Mason-Dixon line, there was no slave trade so technically they were free
the war was fought as a matter of federalism and state's rights primarily, and as a matter of congressional voting power for the states secondarily,
lincoln and others wanted to consolidate the nation's government under DC creating a nation in which the states answered to the federal government, as opposed to the states telling the fed what to do (this is the basic meaning of "confederate states of america"),
there was also a power struggle between the more industrialized states and the agricultural states in that the ag states wanted the slave population to be counted as genereal population allowing them to have more seats in the house of representatives, the industrialized states arguing that the slaves were not allowed to vote and were not subject to representation
but it all falls back to the matter of federalization, this is evidenced in part by the fact that there were non-slave states in the confederacy and there would have been more, even New York, if Lincoln had not had there governors and other legislative leaders jailed for treason
there wasn't a noble and glorious mission to end slavery, it didn't even come up until about 3 years into the war, in fact if you read Lincoln's "emancipation proclamation" carefully you will see that it saw the slaves more as property to be confiscated from the CSA like livestock and plantations, as they were getting sick of Lee handing them their asses on a regular basis and decided that if they could not defeat the CSA armies strategically they would defeat them by attacking civilian targets and burning food stores and such, this was the basic principle behind Sherman's march to the sea, avoid militia, confiscate everything (slaves included), burn what you couldn't confiscate
once the confiscated slaves made it north of the Mason-Dixon line, there was no slave trade so technically they were free
Whilst I'm no student of American history, the consensus amongst historians today seems to be that the Emancipation Declaration was born out of political expediency rather than any grand moral crusade. Certainly it gave an ethical advantage to the North especially when one considers the possibilty of European intevention on the part of the South - Europe had been slavery free for decades by the time of the American Civil War and it would have been incongruous for its political leaders to be seen to support a confederacy of slavery owning states against a group of states who had renounced slavery.
The primary cause for the Civil War was that we had a Republican (conservative) in the Whitehouse. What else do you need to know?