Deal Johnny Reb Adendum
Oh, I forgot a couple more arguments used by the “The Civil War wasn’t about slavery” crowd: The “The North had slaves”, “The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free the salves in the North” and finally the “The South freed the salves”/”The Slaves fought for the South” arguments.
The first two refer of course to the border states of Delaware, Maryland, the newly formed West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, since very northerly states such as Massachusetts had done away with slavery in 1780 and the like. (The last Northern state to abolish slavery was New Jersey in 1804.)
Once again, so?
Just because these four states had slavery when the Civil War started and did not chose to secede doesn’t negate the evidence that the fight was started by and about slavery. Lincoln handled these states very carefully because of their strategic value and so did not force any changes on them lest he create an anti-union backlash. As it was he didn’t need to. Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and Missouri did away with slavery during the Civil War on their own. Kentucky was the only state to hold out until the 13th Amendment and since the population there was very hotly (occasionally violently) divided between Unionism and Secessionism, Lincoln was not about to force the issue.
Yes, the South freed the slaves and there were slaves that fought for the South, but that only came at the very tail end of the war when the Confederacy was running out of men. They promised freedom to any slave that served in the Confederate forces. They had of course been using slaves for “grunt work”, as laborers, during the entire war, but there was no more choice for them in that than working on a plantation. The fact is the Constitution of the Confederate States of America is nearly identical to the United States Constitution with one notable exception. It protected the right of people to own black people (and that is spelled out: "negro") slaves.
Yes, there were some tariff issues between the Northern and Southern states but it was slavery that was the one issue neither side could compromise on.
"The anti-slavery party contend that slavery is wrong in itself, and the Government is a consolidated national democracy. We of the South contend that slavery is right, and that this is a confederate Republic of sovereign States." ~ Congressman Keitt of South Carolina, 1860
The first two refer of course to the border states of Delaware, Maryland, the newly formed West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, since very northerly states such as Massachusetts had done away with slavery in 1780 and the like. (The last Northern state to abolish slavery was New Jersey in 1804.)
Once again, so?
Just because these four states had slavery when the Civil War started and did not chose to secede doesn’t negate the evidence that the fight was started by and about slavery. Lincoln handled these states very carefully because of their strategic value and so did not force any changes on them lest he create an anti-union backlash. As it was he didn’t need to. Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and Missouri did away with slavery during the Civil War on their own. Kentucky was the only state to hold out until the 13th Amendment and since the population there was very hotly (occasionally violently) divided between Unionism and Secessionism, Lincoln was not about to force the issue.
Yes, the South freed the slaves and there were slaves that fought for the South, but that only came at the very tail end of the war when the Confederacy was running out of men. They promised freedom to any slave that served in the Confederate forces. They had of course been using slaves for “grunt work”, as laborers, during the entire war, but there was no more choice for them in that than working on a plantation. The fact is the Constitution of the Confederate States of America is nearly identical to the United States Constitution with one notable exception. It protected the right of people to own black people (and that is spelled out: "negro") slaves.
Yes, there were some tariff issues between the Northern and Southern states but it was slavery that was the one issue neither side could compromise on.
"The anti-slavery party contend that slavery is wrong in itself, and the Government is a consolidated national democracy. We of the South contend that slavery is right, and that this is a confederate Republic of sovereign States." ~ Congressman Keitt of South Carolina, 1860
Labels: Civil War
posted by KiplingKat | 7:34 AM
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