Luke Smith,
You're comments are partially false. Proven to be false at that. Yes slavery was a huge issue. But what they were fighting for was not "slavery" but over "property". Slaves were considered property, a Constitutional right given. Of course the discussion gets more serious when human beings are involved, but in the eyes of these people, they were still property. Lets also remember, slavery dates back to when our nation started. Washington, Franklin, Adams, and many more great leaders owned slaves... by the 1860's it was a tread that was just common. Slaves were prisoners from Africa who were being exiled, bought, and imported to the US, Cuba, England, and other regions along the Atlantic Ocean. Though there were many false corruptions in the slave trade, just like any other business, the slaves were criminals in the African culture who were deported and used for work, just as they were when imprisoned by their own people.
What many also fail to consider when they debate about the Civil War is the context of the event occurred. First, the states of North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas did not succeed with the other 7 states until 2 months after. These four states did not want to secede until Lincoln announced plans to raise the Union army to invade VA and NC. For this very reason, Robert E. Lee declined Lincoln's offer to lead the Union army. Lee was from VA and refused to invade his home land. (Basically, these four states did not fight because slavery was an issue, but to defend their lands).
ALSO, in these four states, Union loyalty was at it highest, slavery was pretty much not even present and highly rare (as low as 16% of the population were slave owners). Most people believe Lincoln's plans to invade was made out of being paranoid of secession from these states, they failed to comply with the Union nor the Confederates, so force was going to be used to force them to comply (though martial law gives president the right, it is also Constitutional for these states to defend themselves).
ALSO, the state of Maryland would have seceded but Lincoln quickly used martial law to come in and control Maryland, the same was done in Kentucky briefly (Kentucky actually had high Confederate ties and was briefly considered a state of the Confederacy).
ALSO, the US Government had no constitutional rights to enforce such laws that stated slavery to be eliminated. Slaves were considered property, and the Constitution stated the right to own property. The laws had no meaning because of no Constitutional value.
SPEAKING OF... the Constitution stated the right to defend against enemies "foreign and domestic"...these states only found themselves practicing their Constitutional rights (especially the last four that seceded).
ALSO, what most people do not understand is Lincoln had purposed bills which would have made slavery legal. If the fire on Fort Sumter had never taken place when it did, it is believed the bill would have been voted on and possibly passed. There is proof of this.
ALSO, much proof shows that one of Lincoln's "solutions" to the "slave problem" was to take all blacks and ship them to a island owned by the government to provide a solution to the "problem" (if you don't grasp that concept, just imagine if that was tried today).
ALSO, what people don't realize that most blacks who became free in the late 1700's and 1800's were found unsatisfied with their "freedom". They were highly discriminated against regardless of their rights to freedom. We always hear the horrible accounts of slaves being treated badly, but no one expresses the accounts of slaves being happy under slavery because they were actually taken care of, given food, work, and a place to sleep. Black who were freed (and yes there were free blacks in the South), were expected to provide for their own just as freed whites were suppose to. People think discrimination was not present in the North because the Union's victory led to their freedom, however, most Union people just fought to be loyal to their country, not because they cared about slavery. Discrimination didn't just become present in the 1900's, it was present then. But in the North and the South, discrimination was very much present, therefore blacks who were free often were poor and left without jobs. LETS NOT FORGET...Blacks even served in the Confederate Military VOLUNTARILY!
ALSO, since the start of our nation, every single state has had sections or entire states petitioning for secession. It was not just a problem in the 1860's but has been since the start of our nation, even more recently, counties of states have petitioned to break off and start their own governments. Even the state you live in.
I am a HUGE Civil War enthusiast, and there are so many misconceptions about the Civil War, people don't understand that Slavery was just a percentage of the reasoning...slavery had been debated for 100 years before the Civil War... it was about freedom, heritage, rights...
Just imagine if our government and president enforced laws that were unconstitiutional (and actually our government does every day) but your state refused to obey so our president used the military to attack your state and they destroyed your land, your home, killed your friends, ruined places you had memories in... how would you feel?
The Free Talk Live BBS
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Topic: The Truth About The Civil War and Southern Secession (Read 40788 times)