Quote:
Originally Posted by newtoks
The Confederacy was formed because they wanted to continue to buy and sell human beings. Very simple and straight forward. The leaders of the Confederacy were clear, they understood that slavery was important to them and were proud of their position that blacks were an inferior race destined to be enslaved by the white man. You need to own that truth and decide whether you find that position admirable or not.
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In 1860, there were pretty much only two kinds of white people.
You had the White people who thought blacks were an inferior race, but also thought the existence of slaves was harmful to poor white men, and created a "landed aristocracy" harking back to fuedalism. These people also believed that whites and blacks were so different, that they would never accept each others as equals in the same society, and racism, and the division and violence which stems from it, would forever plague our country, until one race or the other is no more.
These people believed that slaves should be freed, and then removed entirely from the country.
Lincoln was this kind of white person. And Lincoln spent many years trying to find ways to remove blacks from the country. And even tried to setup colonies in Cuba and Central America. He finally realized it would simply be too impractical and too expensive to move four million slaves, who were largely unwilling, out of the country.
Lincoln Address to Black Americans
And then you had white people who thought blacks were an inferior race, and as such, they were basically incapable of taking care of themselves, and would always be to some extent, dependent on the white man for their livelihoods and protection. And that if you freed the slaves, they wouldn't be able to support themselves, and would only sustain themselves through crime and the "Alms houses"(IE government assistance). And thus in their mind, blacks are actually better off as slaves, and should be kept in bondage "for their own good", and "for the good of society".
Now, the United States of 1860 was really constituted of about five different "zones". You had New England, the Upper Atlantic(IE around New York), the Northwest territories, the Upper South, and the Lower South.
As a general rule, the people in New England were abolitionists and wanted all slaves freed and removed from the country. In the Upper Atlantic and the Northwest territories, the main issue was preventing the spread of slavery into the new territories. For New York, it was mostly for political reasons. They wanted more "free states" to shift the balance of power in Congress for the purpose of passing high protectionist tariffs, and getting government assistance for the expansion of the railroads(which the Southern "slave power" had been trying to prevent).
In the Northwest territories, they wanted to block the expansion of slavery, because "big-business" plantation slavery made it impossible for white small-farmers to compete in the market. And these plantations had the resources to literally buy up all the land(or at least all the good land), leaving free whites with nothing to farm. They also wanted to pass the "Homestead act", which gave land away to homesteaders instead of having the government sell it off(where the buyers were usually the rich).
In the Lower South, the plantation economy was in full-bloom, and with the rise of industry across Europe, and the ever-increasing demand for cotton. The number of slaves in the south increased rapidly in the mid-1800's, and slaves actually outnumbered whites in some of these states by 1860.
The people in the Lower South were mostly the second type of whites, they believed that slavery was ultimately a good thing, and that everyone benefited from it. The slave-owners thought of the slaves kind of like children. And slavery was nothing more than an extension of "paternalism". In the 1800's, men didn't just own their slaves, they effectively owned their wives as well, and their children. And men could discipline their wives, and children, and slaves when they disobeyed. And could expect them to do chores and other work. Many men had lots of children, because each child was an extra "work-hand".
In the mind of the slave-owner, he is providing them a home, and food, and clothes, and everything else they need, while protecting them, in exchange for some work. I mean, slavery in essence was similar to "feudalism", and the plantation owner was the "Lord" of the land.
In the Upper South, things were more of a "mixed-bag". There had been decades of "manumissions", and there were large numbers of free blacks. And most people in places like Virginia(going back to Jefferson), had hoped slavery would be gradually phased out. The goal had been to educate the blacks, and then send them somewhere else. Virginia was the home of the "American colonization society".
https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Amer...of_free_blacks
Which is why, only a few of the states in the "Deep south" declared that slavery was a "moral good" and that blacks should be kept in slavery effectively forever. And that also should explain why all seven of the original confederate states were from the Deep south.
http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/we...otton/1860.jpg
In the Upper South, they did not generally see slavery as a moral good, but did see it as a temporary necessity, because of economic and social circumstances, and had hoped to find a way to abolish slavery without violence and a total economic meltdown. Which is why four of the states in the upper south never joined the Confederacy at all. And why the other four states didn't join the Confederacy until they were forced to pick a side(Lincoln had called on them to send troops to put down the Confederacy, there was no being neutral).
Now that the political situation is cleared out of the way. Lets be clear here, wars are ultimately fought for economic reasons, not ideological ones. The media and the politicians manipulate public opinion for the benefit of economic interests. Thus, the people themselves might be fighting the war for noble reasons, but wars are always fought for economic reasons.
The Civil War is portrayed as the North fighting to free the Southern slaves. But in reality, the North was only fighting to keep the South in subjection for the profit of Northern businesses and bankers.
And on the other side, the Civil War is portrayed as the South fighting to free itself of Northern tyranny. But in reality, it was fighting to keep people enslaved for the profit of big Southern planters.
Of course, in both cases, the politicians tried to sell the war as being for noble reasons. Lincoln wanted to "Save the union". The south wanted to "fight for States' rights", and "independence from an abusive Central government".
Lincoln couldn't tell the truth, he couldn't tell the people of the North that they were only fighting for the interests of the bankers and the railroads. And the Southerners couldn't be honest and tell the people of the South that they were only fighting for the big plantation owners. Which in both cases, was the actual truth of the matter.
So both sides lied to their people, and created huge myths and half-truths, to convince the gullible on both sides to sacrifice their lives for their government. Its nothing new, and has been going on since the beginning of time.
What irritates me, is that Lincoln is held up as the greatest American president ever. But in reality, he was a scumbag of the highest order, and kind of an idiot, who had almost no experience whatsoever in politics.
The only reason Lincoln pressed so hard for war, was because he honestly believed that the South wouldn't actually fight. He believed that a mere show of force would cause the entire Confederacy to collapse. Instead of conciliation and compromise, he forced a confrontation at Fort Sumter, and then by demanding troops from the other Southern states, like Virginia, who up to that point had remained loyal and tried everything they could to avoid war, he forced four more states into the hands of the Confederacy, and nearly lost Kentucky and Maryland as well(in the latter, to avoid secession he just arrested the entire Maryland legislature).
Lincoln was a moron, who started the most deadly war in US History, mostly as a result of his inexperience and incompetence(which I assume was being taken advantage-of by Northern economic interests). Of which, he had no intention whatsoever of actually abolishing slavery. And its abolition only became necessary, because he was losing the war. And he was terrified of European intervention, and was desperate for more soldiers to feed effectively his "War of attrition" against the South.
Lincoln was basically good at giving speeches, but was a garbage president, just like every other president from Illinois. And the Civil War, regardless of the rhetoric, was an economic war, just like every other war. And the people, and their leadership, fighting on both sides thought blacks were subhuman.
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Good bye General Lee
