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>>Not to reopen the war but...

The North was wrong to turn its back on the principles of the Declaration of independence

Which principles exactly? I can't agree with you if I don't know what you are referring to.<<

I'm happy to discuss this - unless other people get too upset - I don't want to disrupt the board.

Short answer: The North did not allow the South the same self determination the colonies had demanded from England

Longer answer:

As I see it, the key principles of the American revolution wasn't that England was bad or that monarchy was unacceptable. It was first, that the right of the government to hold power comes from the consent of the governed. And second that when the people collectively conclude that the government is no longer just the people have the right to withdraw their consent and form a new government.

I would argue that the grievances the South had were less than those of the colonies but their right to secede was strengthened by the fact that they had joined voluntarily and thus could leave voluntarily.

Like the founders they didn't do it secretly. The Declaration says this "entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

The South followed those rules, and just as the state legislatures have voted them into the union they voted out. Thus, I would argue that the North was not true to the spirit of the founding of the country in refusing self determination.

But while I'll joke about Yankees I'm not blind to the truth about the South. In fact many of the leftover feelings about Yankees come from what happened during Sherman's march to sea when the war was already settled and reconstruction, not the war itself.

Yes, the north was treating the South like a colony and yes the North had a lock on congress that looked like it could never change - effectively eliminating the South from governance. But we had slavery of an entire race of human beings in all the Southern States - a condition as utterly wrong and unChristian as can be imagined except perhaps genocide.

My Southern friends will sometimes argue that the border states had slaves too. Thats true. And maybe that makes some in the North hypocrites but it doesn't make slavery in the South any less wrong.

You know, if I had been in charge when the handover of Fort Sumpter was demanded, I wouldn't have attacked. I would have sent a rowboat filled with fresh bread and meat each day along with the message that we would be as patient as necessary in resolving our differences peacefully with our Northern brothers.

Importing of new slaves was already banned but the wealthy landowners were terrified of losing their property and poor whites were worried about the competition of suddenly freed slave. In the North there were anti-draft riots as many Northerners did not want to fight to force the South to stay.

There was a proposal that the states would begin slowly paying market rates to slaveholders to free their slaves.

But General Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumpter and everyone's heart hardened.

God knows its for the best that we remained one country - the world needs us and we have accomplished so much... but the war was a calamity. With 20% less troops than in World War 1 there were twice the number of wounded and almost 5 times as many dead.