[beeler]

What's weird is that he owned slaves but opposed the expansion of slavery and the Confederacy. Yet more evidence that the issues inspiring the War of Northern Aggression were much more complicated than is commonly taught or thought.

[Ditto]

What's weird is that he owned slaves but opposed the expansion of slavery and the Confederacy. Yet more evidence that the issues inspiring the War of Northern Aggression were much more complicated than is commonly taught or thought.

Actually, that attitude was pretty common. Many slave owners had no problem with restricting expansion. Just as many Free Soilers were content with slavery where it already existed. But as with many things political, the most radical set the agenda and through their rhetoric, the situation got beyond the control of more moderate voices like Houston's.

It is difficult for us to appreciate how divisive the Kansas-Nebraska Act was.