Today marks the 150th anniversary of the outbreak of the American Civil War, and many of you are probably quietly thinking to yourselves, "So?" I find, when it comes to the Civil War, there are three types of people. The first type is the history buff, but they almost don't count, because they're the kind of people who will watch a two-hour documentary on the history of underwear. The second is the guy with the Confederate battle flag hanging in the bedroom windows instead of a curtain, and the third is the guy who sees that flag and says, "You lost, can't you people just get over it already?" Wait...there's actually one more type...the guy that sees that flag and says, "Wow, what a racist." That's kind of hard to argue, since everyone I ever knew that flew that flag was, in fact, a racist. Now, I know some of you out there are going to say that's absurd, that the Civil War was fought for state's rights, not slavery. You're absolutely right- the civil war was fought over each state's rights...to defend and promote slavery. Don't start writing hate mail to me yet, Johnny Reb, I'm not finished. You see, the South was right about one thing...they
did have a right to secede, at least in theory. All you have to do is read the Declaration of Independence to realize that. I should also point out that most of the young men who fought that war were so poor they couldn't afford to buy a dozen eggs let alone own another human being. Rich man's war, poor man's fight, it was said. I've also read that the great American general Robert E. Lee was against slavery, but saw his duty to Virginia as higher than his duty to the union. I get all of that, so when I say that the Civil War was fought over slavery,
please don't overload the comments section or my Facebook page with a lot of "No it wasn't!" Yeah, it was. And if you're going to start in with the whole "Lincoln owned slaves" thing, I'm going to have to see some documentation. About Lincoln. Not his grandfather, or his great uncle. Put up, or shut up, as they say. It is true that Lincoln wanted to save the union whether slavery was abolished or not...the union was more important to him. But make no mistake-this quote from Lincoln says it all; "
Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except negroes." Soon it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics." When it comes to this, I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty--to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy." Men in the South feared Lincoln, feared abolitionists like John Brown, and left the union based on that fear. Saying the Civil War wasn't about slavery is like saying that the Crucifiction wasn't about Jesus. Maybe not, but it wouldn't have happened without Him, would it? "So- other than pure interest in history, Mr. Type One, why did you even bring it up?" Good question, Lefty, thanks for hanging in there. The reason I bring it up is to ask you a question. Does the union still matter? Believe it or not, there are people today that are calling for their states to seceed, and I'm not just talking about a few crazies out in west Texas. I, for one, am a big believer in states' rights, but I am first and foremost an American. So I found myself asking that question of myself today. What would it take to make me rebel against the government, and would that make me a patriot, or a traitor? Where do you draw the line between defending the Constitution and defending your country?
13 comments:
great article as usual. you never disappoint your audience :) great thought questions at the end too!!
Thanks! So...what would it take to make you a rebel?
A rebel? I am one. I view 99% of what the government does as suspect and against our best intrest.
What would it take for me to actually join in raising arms against the government? Ask me again when the price of gas hits $5 a gallon and American soldiers are still dying for no damn good reason
I find it interesting how this point is constantly injected into the American understanding of the civil war. I remember in grade school, in the south, hearing the same black and white tale of how the civil war was about liberating slaves. All I have to say is, Iraq was about liberating Iraqis. Operation Iraqi freedom was clearly about liberating the poor Iraqi people from a ruthless dictator, argument over, no discussion to be had. It clearly says this in White House press releases, and those who think it was about Iraq trading oil in Euros instead of Fed Reserve Notes are like holocaust deniers. I’m sure to some it was a factor, but honestly if setting Iraqi’s free were the main point we wouldn’t be bombing their capital city. The civil war was about the expansion of federal power to the point limitless authority that we all enjoy so much today. With our paper fiat currency being completely manipulated how can you be so sure we’re not all slaves today in a more efficient form? The south could’ve saved slavery by not succeeding from the union, Lincoln expressed that preserving the union was his primary goal above liberating slaves. There was a plot for New York to succeed but that was thwarted by Burr and Hamilton’s duel. General Lee didn’t believe in slavery but felt he had to fight against centralized government. 1/3 of 1 percent of the south being plantation owners, it was just about slavery and racism. I mean come on, look at the messes we get into today and think about how wonderful this country would’ve been if the powers of state and federal government remained equal and balanced as originally intended. Every country had slaves and all of them eliminated slavery at about the same time. The District of Columbia gets their slaves bought by the federal government, and the law liberating all slaves wasn’t even put into place until 4 years after the war started. Still, it was all about slavery. Read the emancipation proclamation, it only freed slaves in states of rebellion, it was still legal to have them in many union areas. Slavery actually was not officially ended throughout the United States until after the Lincoln era.
Edit* Emancipation Proclamation 4 years after war started did not liberate all slaves only ones in states of rebellion. Slaves were still legal in union states with a few local exceptions.
Just a quick note- Hamilton and Burr were both dead long before 1861. Other than the draft riots in New York City, I'm unaware of any plot during the Civil War involving New York seceeding. Also, I think the war in Iraq makes for a weak comparison. The rest of the stuff, I think I pretty much covered. Awesome feedback, by the way!
Yeah, I was merely giving example of suceeding on non-slavery merits being an ongoing part of AOC to Constitution, state equality to big fed. The main point is that the war wasn't about slavery, but maintaining the union or seperating based on the errosion of state powers. If the 13th amendment was made law and then the civil war occured then that would have been true. It's really interesting to read actual speaches and legislation while considering the timeline. I thought the IP Lincoln ordered set slaves free, however when I read it today it only sets the rebel state slaves free and confiscates "well bodied" slaves for union military service when invasions yeilded them. The 13th amendment actually liberated all the slaves after the civil war and abraham lincoln.
All of that's true...however, I still maintain that if slavery were not an issue, then there would have been no Civil War. The quote that I used from Lincoln actually comes from his time in the legislature, before the war, before his presidency, which I think points to exactly the kind of rhetoric the south was affraid of. I point to slavery as the root cause, not the only cause, as I granted earlier that the men fighting, for the most part, didn't own slaves themselves and were either fighting to preserve the union or to leave it.
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Brandon has it wrong in many ways, the Declaration OF referred to a situation where there was no "representation"...i.e. no vote. We did not vote for the King or his representatives. The idea was that you could separate when you had no other means of control. In the secession movement there was a distinct violation..it came because the citizens voted in the election of 1860. When you vote you tacitly agree to abide by the results...that is the contract Lincoln referred to in the Gettysburg address...whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. The fight Lincoln put up was indeed about slavery but more importantly it was about the possibility of self determination. It was clear the slaves had no vote in their status and their secession would have been OK...according to the Declaration. But first things first...you have to protect the right to vote and only maintenance of the union did that...the winners HAD to acknowledge the LOSERS. Secession of a voting public was not playing with the rules. And...Lincoln's pushing through the 14th amendment to abolish slavery in all the union happened before he died. Juneteenth happened after he died.
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