The Gathering Storm

[ole]

Any attempt to disrupt that system, in the South, would be met with extreme violence, which is what happened. Slavery, and all that goes with it, was to be preserved at all cost. Too many people in the South, had too much at stake, ...money, for too long, to let it all go without a fight.

Kinda what I was getting at, but I was downplaying the money angle and playing up the culture angle. Unfortunately, someone decided that a pre-emptive strike was a good idea.
Ole

[william42]

'Preciate the clarification Ole. I take prescrip pain meds every day due to a back injury in '93 and surgery, which has now become arthritic. (hey, old age ain't for sissies) It takes the pain away, but reduces my reading comprehension to about the 4th grade level.



Terry

[Capt Coxetter]

Originally Posted by william42

IMO, No slaves = nobody to pick the cotton, except white folks who they'd have to pay wages to.

Nah. The freedmen stayed on and picked the cotton. When they were freed, when they were no longer the slave owners property but rather his employees, he had no more interest in them than the Northern factory owner did with the white immigrants who worked for him.

Capt. Coxetter

Who's not defending slavery; just recognizing economic reality.

[ole]

hey, old age ain't for sissies

Have a T-shirt with that inscription. Also one that proclaims: "Life is hard. Then you die."

[oneplez]

Originally Posted by william42

'Preciate the clarification Ole. I take prescrip pain meds every day due to a back injury in '93 and surgery, which has now become arthritic. (hey, old age ain't for sissies) It takes the pain away, but reduces my reading comprehension to about the 4th grade level.



Terry

What are you talking about? These are the "Golden Years" aren't they?


Don

[william42]

What are you talking about? These are the "Golden Years" aren't they?

Yeah, Don, that's what I hear. The precious metal years. I'm in my 50's and would have to call these my tin years. I'm pretending that tin's a precious metal. In my 60's my hope is to be heavily bejeweled with pieces of real true-to-life rusted iron.


Terry

[trice]

Originally Posted by ole

I've been avidly following all discussions wherein causes for the WBTS are debated -- sometimes hotly. I'd like some help in listing the "causes" and getting some perspective on their ranking.

Bear with me for a moment. I haven't given the concept much thought or polish, so can we begin by making a list, in no particular order, of all the possible "causes"? My initial thoughts, incomplete and in no particular order would include:

- Tariffs
- Sectionalism
- Slavery
- Money
- Political Power

Relooking at this list, I'm thinking that I've proposed the impossible. How can we separate sectionalism without ringing in slavery, money and tariffs? How can we separate Tariffs without dragging along sectionalism, without dragging in the rest?

Nevertheless, a discussion and ranking of all possible causes would help me understand the roots of the conflict. One example: Under what category would the likes of John Brown, Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionists and fire-eaters fit? Or is that sort of heat deserving of a separate category. And will they all fit under a single definition?

Any suggestions?

Ole,

I'd be pretty sure that almost all of "the likes of John Brown, Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionists and fire-eaters" would put slavery at the top of the heap, and overwhelmingly so in most of those cases. For example, Rhett of Charleston had tied his secession rhetoric primarily and dominantly to slavery in the early 1840s and beat the drum for it from then to 1860. If you want to find people who put the slavery issue somewhere down the list, you won't find them down in this group, IMHO.

Regards,
Tim