Civil War History - "What if..." DiscussionsWhat if they had attacked instead of digging in...? What if he was in charge of the army instead...? Did you ever have a "What if..." question, and you weren't sure where to post it? Here's the place to ask these speculative questions!
Battalion your figures may not be exactly right(I don't know) but your point is correct.Were the Confederate states not worth a huge chunk of money there would have been no war.
Most people in the North didn't want a war any more than the South did. This was reflected in their newspapers and in the many comments of their leaders. This sentiment turned on a dime when the Confederacy announced their near free trade policy. Suddenly those newspapers that had advocated peace were clammoring for war. Those that claimed it would be unconstitutional to force the South to remain in the Union were calling for the South's collective heads on a platter.
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Attemting to place all the blame for Northern aggression on slavery is pathetic.Northern men with loaded guns didn't come South to do one thing about slavery in 1861 did they?
You are right. The North claimed they had to keep the Union together and that was the reason for their invasion. They made no mention of slavery at all.
Lincoln was prepared to go to war, but he didn't want to be the one to fire the first shot. That wouldn't be politically advisable so he conspired with Gustavus Fox a plan that would manuver the Confederates into a position of firing on Ft. Sumter first. He even wrote a letter congratulating the two of them on their cleverness.
All this slavery business is a smoke screen to distract people from the real reason the North invaded the South. That reason being, politics, power, and money, nothing more.
Regards,
Rose
__________________ "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names".--J.F.K.
The War Between the States established... This principle that the Federal Government is, through its courts, this final judge of its own powers.
-- Woodrow Wilson
Most people in the North didn't want a war any more than the South did. This was reflected in their newspapers and in the many comments of their leaders. This sentiment turned on a dime when the Confederacy announced their near free trade policy. Suddenly those newspapers that had advocated peace were clammoring for war. Those that claimed it would be unconstitutional to force the South to remain in the Union were calling for the South's collective heads on a platter.
Actually the firing on of Ft Sumter is what changed most of the opinion... free trade policy argument is almost as much poppycock as the tarriff issue.
You are right. The North claimed they had to keep the Union together and that was the reason for their invasion. They made no mention of slavery at all.
Because slavery was the issue the CS was worried about preserving... not the Union.
Lincoln was prepared to go to war, but he didn't want to be the one to fire the first shot. That wouldn't be politically advisable so he conspired with Gustavus Fox a plan that would manuver the Confederates into a position of firing on Ft. Sumter first. He even wrote a letter congratulating the two of them on their cleverness.
cough BS cough
All this slavery business is a smoke screen to distract people from the real reason the North invaded the South. That reason being, politics, power, and money, nothing more.
Also the real reason the creation of why the CS was needed... a few wanted more power and knew there was no way they could get it legally.
Real reason for Secession? Dirtbag politicos both north and south made assorted sundry power grabs. Who started it? The man who ordered the first cannon fired.
__________________ Shane Christen
American Legion Post 352
SUVCW Camp Abernethy# 48
Lifetime NRA member
3rd MN VI
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Eccl 1:18
In the modern era, it is difficult for some to understand that the Confederacy fought to preserve slavery.
Anyone who thinks differently, has to explain why the word slave or some form thereof, was so prominent in the Constitution of the Confederate States.
The Confederate States does not exist without slavery. It was its wealth and its future. It was stated as such in its constitution.
This kind of is in the same arena with paying reparations for slavery. Why would we even consider it?
Then there is the question of who pays? Boy, what a can of worms!
__________________ Sammy D Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Then there is the question of who pays? Boy, what a can of worms!
Not to mention who recieves!
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
I lay awake at night thinking about this one. I think that the war was inevitable but at the same time if you take out the slavery variable, the war probably doesn't happen-not in 1861.
Yes part of the war was due to slavery, but don't forget the high tarriffs that the Industrial north had imposed. These hurt the very products the south produced. Part the of the problem was unfair taxation, sound familiar?
Poppycock. The tariff had no more to do with the starting of the war than the weather did.
This unproven theory which is so advanced by many today, was only heard at volume AFTER the war.
Yes, the tariff was an issue, a sectional issue, but it was never enough to cause bloodshed.
As for your reference to taxes, remember, only the tariff was used to collect funds for the operation of the federal government, along with land sales. Taxes, as we know them today, did not exist before the war.
May I suggest that you go to the thread on the subjects of tariffs on this board? You will find many opinions on it, how it was or was not a cause of the war, etc. You may find it interesting.
Sincerely,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
Yes part of the war was due to slavery, but don't forget the high tarriffs that the Industrial north had imposed. These hurt the very products the south produced. Part the of the problem was unfair taxation, sound familiar?
Jason: Tariffs were imposed on imports only. In no way did they affect southern products. Louisiana lobbied for tariffs on sugar, Missouri loved tariffs on hemp, South Carolina was enamored with tariffs on rice. A lot depended on whose ox was getting the mooky end of the stick.
What controversy there was (as Neil mentioned, most of it post war) was about the protectionist nature of the tariffs; i.e., protecting northern industry. As the south had little industry, it quite naturally found protecting any one else's industry to be objectionable.
On other threads you will find enough discussion on tariffs to make your hair hurt and your teeth itch. For the most part, and it's only my view, tariffs were included in a few of the declarations of secession simply to put some lipstick on the pig -- we ain't gonna give up our slaves. (Ignoring the idea that no one was asking them to.)
Great to have you aboard. Keep on postin'.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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The tariff had no more to do with the starting of the war than the weather did.
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