Side bar Union Enlistments Before and After Emancipation

leftyhunter

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
May 27, 2011
Location
los angeles ca
So is it fair to say that post EP enrollments didn't really serve as a decent gauge of the Northern man's feelings towards slavery?

I'm trying to figure out how much the average northerner cared about abolition. Obviously, in my view, at least, the south weren't traitors, as secession is an essential attribute of state sovereignty. So most southerners were fighting for their independence or to repel the foreign invaders.

It's less clear to me, however, why the Yankees fought. Seems strange to me that so many could be motivated to march into someone else's home and die trying to compel them into remaining in a union through forced consent.

Was it just because the CSA didn't accept the results of the election? Did the average Union man care nothing for state sovereignty, was the Compact View of Union less accepted in the North, or what?

I've read about the fear of factions further subdividing the country, but what made them see that as more important than maintaining the respect for the sovereignty of states that had existed since before the constitution?

Was there a significant component of the Army that was just there to put down slavery?
Historian James McPherson has,a book called "why they fought".Keep in mind over one hundred thousand white men enlisted in the Union Army". I have,a,sourced thread that covers thst" how effective were Unionist regiments"
There is a great book on that subject "Lincolns Loyalists Union soldiers from the Confederacy " Richard Current Northeastern University Press .
Current notes of the 170k black troops most were from the South.
More men from the border states joined the Union Army then the Confederate Army.
So no not all Southern men thought secession was,such a great idea.
@jgoodguy has numerous threads that show that the founding fathers,and the Supreme Court did not support the right of secession.
Leftyhunter
 
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