There was no polling of the public in that era like we have today.
The people though knew what war meant, what it would mean not just historically but the devastation that would be wrought throughout the country if the North Invaded.
The states entered the Union with the understanding that the States would remain free and not subject to the whims of those in other states and with the belief that the 9th and 10th Amendments would be honored.
In a quest to end slavery, the northern states broke that compact and war was the inevitable result.
To the average soldier of the line, such lofty ideals meant nothing though, he was fighting for his family, his farm, his community,and his state.
Slavery as a cause meant little or nothing to anyone other than those who relied on slavery for their livelihoods, mainly the large cotton plantation owners.
The guy literally took up arms against America. It does not get any more âantiAmericanâ than that. He was the Bill Ayers of his time. Bill Ayers on steroids, leading tens of thousands of men against the United States.
No, you didnât have to connect the dots. I just didnât think you were going to keep flogging this tired old argument.
Lee lead an effort that is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands. All because Virginia was worried about losing the ability to keep human slaves.
Donât lose sight of the tragedy and horror that was the civil war. The unnecessary death and destruction. The crime against humanity that was chattel slavery.
The states did not have total freedom. A stronger central government was the entire purpose of the constitutional convention.
Trying to claim slavery was not the most pressing issue that drove the civil war, and that it didnât have widespread popular support among the people of the south is revisionism.
And I canât tell you how wrong you are about non-slave owners caring about slavery.
The entire economy of the south was centered around slavery not to mentioned their engrained social order. How many white southerners do you think wanted to have equal rights with the black slaves they were taught to view as inferior?
It was only declared to be so following the war. Nothing in our constitution forbid it and under the 9th and 10th Amendments it was therefore constitutional.
Even in the post war era there was still general disagreement among the judiciary as to its constitutionality.
The political motivations that drove the leaders to war are not the same reasons the average soldier went to war. They rarely are.
For most who fight the wars itâs simply about protecting their own homes and families.
Asfor âequal rights for blacksâ blacks were treated as badly or worse in most of the northern states in the post war era as they were in the south.
By any everyday, common sense understanding of the word âtreasonâ, what the Confederacy and its adherents did was treason. I understand your need to parse it, but it is there in plain view for all to see.
Southern leaders were democratically elected (at least elected by white males). Do you really think southerners would fight and die for their leaders if they didnât share their rationale?
You think that if the current leaders of the former Confederate states thought it a good idea to re-fight the Civil War that the good folk of the south would go along for the ride because it is simply about protecting their homes and families?
We live in a completely different world today than we did in the antebellum south. Today we have an actual national identity
If however we devolved into a state of war you bet, youâd see people fighting to defend their homes, families, towns etc no matter which side was invadingâŚ
