|
subexploring -> RE: Robert E. Lee Day (1/21/2008 7:03:34 PM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: AquaticSub
quote:
ORIGINAL: thompsonx
slaveboyforyou:
If the war between the states was not fought over slavery what was it fought about?
thompson
A lot of stuff. It was basically over state's rights with one particular right being to own slaves. My problem with the idea that the Civil War was completely about slavery is that Lincoln bluntly said that if he could end the war by freeing the slaves he would do that, and if he could end the war by not freeing the slaves he would do that. He made the war about slavery when he figured out it was the best tactic for ending the war.
No, the Civil War was definitely fought over slavery. What confuses people is that it was fought over the *territorial expansion* of slavery, not the existence of slavery in the South. Lincoln and the Republicans agreed that under the Constitution, slavery was legally permissible in states where it already existed. (This distinguishes them from the abolitionists, who did want to get rid of it -- Lincoln was not an abolitionist). But Lincoln wanted to stop the extension of slavery to any new states or territories. Everyone, including the South, believed that if slavery did not expand -- if it was kept in the old South -- it would eventually die out over time. That's especially true since if new states entering the Union did not have slavery, then free states would eventually get a Senate majority. The issue of the expansion of slavery was the key issue that sparked secession.
Lincoln is completely consistent and crystal clear in his position on this issue from 1850 on. Here he is in the first Inauguaral Address, before the start of the Civil War, when he was pleaded for the South to stay in the Union:
"One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute."
He says it again in more detail in the Second Inauguaral, in 1864:
"One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it."
Note: restrict the territorial enlargement, not eliminate. But also note that the interest of slavery is still the cause of the war.
During the war, of course, Lincoln made a series of decisions to undertake abolition in the southern states which had seceded. He believed that this would weaken the Confederacy, and also that by seceding the Confederate states had forfeited their Constitutional protections that permitted the ownership of slaves.
|
|
|
|
