Please don’t let any fool tell you that “slavery was on its way out”. That flies in the face of direct action by the confeds to immortalize the Peculiar Institution and enshrine it in their cursed constitution.
It’s almost as common a misdirection as when they claim that the north went to war to “free the slaves” (they didn’t). But the south most assuredly went to war to protect slavery.
(You don’t have to tell me. I just thought that my best and most diplomatic reply was, “Thank you”.) It is fascinating to see the lengths some people will go to rationalize the irrational. My opinion expressed in post #1032 has not wavered.
Can't let that one slide. The South fought to protect the South from exploitation and abuse by the northern States, who were making a crony-capitalist mint off laws their congressmen tailored for them, notably, e.g., the Warehouse Act of 1848.
Remember, the North made a ton of money off slavery. Those Northern bankers and businessmen who drove the formation of Northern war fever in 1861 weren't worried about slavery. They were worried about their middleman's profits.
The Civil War was fought by the North for profits, not for the Union (pace Lincoln's political rhetoric), and not for emancipation, and certainly not for the Negro, as I pointed out above.
If you're going to reply to a FReeper by reference, please have the courtesy to ping him. Especially if you call him "fool".