This is the biggest canard southern apologists use to justify southern secession. The Civil War was not fought to end slavery and I don't recall ever reading that or having it taught to me in school. The Civil War had everything to do with slavery, but was not about freeing the slaves.
Slavery was a southern institution fully immersed in Southerners’ mythological views about their culture. Anything that threatened slavery's existence was viewed as an attack on the south and its way of life. The election of antislavery Lincoln was the final straw for the south and they seceded. The fact the slaves were freed was a good outcome, but had the Southerners decided to rejoin the Union in late 1861 slavery would not have been abolished.
If Lincoln is adored it is no more so than Washington, Jefferson, or Jackson. Washington's leadership helped create this country, Lincoln's leadership preserved it.
Lincoln suffered from bouts of “melancholy” and had no more an abusive childhood than any other man of his time. The fact that with so little formal education he could write a document like the Gettysburg address or his Second Inaugural tells more about the man than a focus on his childhood or bouts with depression.
THIS former Ohioan, whose great-grandfather served with the 80th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in Tennessee, Mississippi and even came through Georgia with Sherman, has come to believe that the wrong side won that sad and deadly internecine conflict (which, BTW, was NOT about slavery). The outcome only served to entrench a bloated and tyrannical federal government on ALL the citizens here — black and white — and damaged the Constitution in ways that are only now becoming manifest. My wife’s great-grandfather also served in the Union Army.
(Anyone interested in knowing just WHAT it was about can visit http://reformed-theology.org/realaudio/ and scroll down to the 4 part series beginning with “The Causes of the War for Southern Independence.”)
Having said that, I find it incredibly interesting that many of the former slaves who went north eventually crossed over into Canada. If the North was so anxious to see these folks “freed,” why did they shuttle them off to Canada? I doubt that slave bounty hunters were safely active in those northern border states.
More liberal hypocrisy?
A Soldiers Letter
We have been favored by an old resident of Mabbettsville, in this county with the following interesting letter written to him by a nephew in the army, dated
Morris Island, S.C.
September 24, 1864
Dear Uncle:--Your good advice I will try and follow. I tell you, George B. McClellan is the only man, that can carry the old ship of State safely through; already we are drifting near the rock that will submerge the noble ship, and we need a man at the helm that will take her out into the broad ocean and guide her toward and into the port of Peace. I say there is too much negro about this matter; only look at the thousands of valuable lives that have been sacrificed for the black man, but my opinion is the South are not fighting for slavery now, but for their honor; but the present administration are continually harping on the negro. They say we are determined to break the bonds of every slave--or disunion. God forbid I should ever have those feelings. No, no. The Union must and shall be preserved. Let the negro go. The white man must rule and reign.
The noble and tried patriot today stands before the American people for the high position of President of these United States. His enemies will ask you what he has ever done to entitle him to occupy the presidential chair? He has done much. Why did he not do more? Simply because he was never supported by the Administration as he should have been; troops were withheld from him, when he called loudly for them. The great secret was, he was too popular with the people and soldier. The Republicans were afraid of him. But thank God he is as much beloved to-day as ever. The soldiers love him, and when their votes are counted you will find we will roll-up such a majority for General George B. McClellan that will astonish the country. He is our choice, and if you could have witnessed as I did the scene that transpired when he was relieved from command, it would have made your heart (though it were adament) melt to see the tears trickle down the cheek of the war worn veteran and the raw recruit when the news reached them, but I trust the day of deliverance is at hand.
Dear Uncle, though you may have never engaged in politics before in your life, I implore you to put your shoulder to the wheel, and every chance you have don't neglect the opportunity of urging the claim of Little Mac upon your friends. Please tell them to stand by him. I hope Old Duchess [county] will roll up a large majority for him. I must close as it is near 10 o'clock at night. Please write me a few lines.
Your nephew, Edwin A. Hoag.