Was slavery the only reason of the war?

[cash]

Let's look into the territories...

Oregon

...became a territory in 1848. Approved a constitution in 1857 and entered the Union two years later.

Here are a few of the constitutional provisions (approved by popular vote)-

Article I, Section 34 - There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude in the state, otherwise than as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

Article I, Section 35 - No free Negro, or Mulatto, not residing in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution*, shall come, reside, or be within this state, or hold any real estate, or make any contracts, or maintain any suit therein; and the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal laws, for the removal, by public officers, of all such Negroes, and Mulattos, and for their effectual exclusion from the state, and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the state, or employ, or harbor them. (Repealed, November 3, 1926.)

Yes, that's 1926.

*128 souls exempted.

What was the composition of the Oregon population by the 1860 Census?-

Nativity
Northern States............35%
Oregon.........................32%
Southern States............23%
Foreign........................10%

How many from Oregon originally came from the south? Almost a quarter of the populace was from southern states, not counting however many stopped off in Oregon in their migration. That's significant enough for a constitutional provision.

 

[Battalion]

How many from Oregon originally came from the south? Almost a quarter of the populace was from southern states, not counting however many stopped off in Oregon in their migration. That's significant enough for a constitutional provision.

No, cash. One quarter is not enough. It takes a majority.

 

[cash]

One quarter certainly is enough. They were a significant block of voters and had to be appeased.

 

[bama46]

Let's cool it with the personal remarks.

Matt McKeon

 

[bama46]

Let's cool it with the personal remarks.

Matt McKeon

Interesting that you can place a statement in my Avatar space and suggest to others that I wrote it when nothing of the kind happened.
If you want to admonish me, then fire away, but I consider this method to be at least a little dishonest.
Posted in the capacity of a member!

 

[Lazy Bayou]

Interesting that you can place a statement in my Avatar space and suggest to others that I wrote it when nothing of the kind happened.
If you want to admonish me, then fire away, but I consider this method to be at least a little dishonest.
Posted in the capacity of a member!

Amen !!! Good for you.

 

[OpnCoronet]

Slavery was the only reason for secession, that except for its presence there would have been no secession. All 'other' causes usually cited as existing before secession and war, also existed after the war. As I have noted on other threads, those 'other' could, and did, result in agitation and sometimes conflict, but were susceptible to compromise within the political process provided by the Constitution. Only slavery proved beyond the capabilities of the country's Organic Law, i.e., it was beyond political compromise.

 

[bama46]

Slavery was the only reason for secession, that except for its presence there would have been no secession. All 'other' causes usually cited as existing before secession and war, also existed after the war. As I have noted on other threads, those 'other' could, and did, result in agitation and sometimes conflict, but were susceptible to compromise within the political process provided by the Constitution. Only slavery proved beyond the capabilities of the country's Organic Law, i.e., it was beyond political compromise.

You are absolutely correct.. slavery was the reason for the war, except for all those other reasons

 

[bama46]

Slavery was the only reason for secession, that except for its presence there would have been no secession. All 'other' causes usually cited as existing before secession and war, also existed after the war. As I have noted on other threads, those 'other' could, and did, result in agitation and sometimes conflict, but were susceptible to compromise within the political process provided by the Constitution. Only slavery proved beyond the capabilities of the country's Organic Law, i.e., it was beyond political compromise.

You are absolutely correct.. slavery was the reason for the war, except for all those other reasons

 

[rpkennedy]

You are absolutely correct.. slavery was the reason for the war, except for all those other reasons

That's not exactly what he was saying.

R

 

[bama46]

That's not exactly what he was saying.

R

Virtually everyone on this board will agree that slavery was the #1 reason for the war. That argument has been won!
For years however respected historians have delineated various other reasons for the war which are numerous and well documented on other threads. A small vocal minority demands that everyone else cow-tow to their beliefs. That they cannot or will not see the evidence in front of their faces does not change that evidence. Life must be either incredably easy or incredably difficult for those who only see things in black or white.

 

[BillO]

You are absolutely correct.. slavery was the reason for the war, except for all those other reasons

Pretty much takes these 46 pages of words and boils it down nicely. The cliff notes version.

 

[KeyserSoze]

One side wanted the territories open to slavery. The other side wanted them reserved for whites (no blacks in/all Indians out). It seems the coin has two sides.

One side wanted the territory reserved for whites. The other side wanted them reserved for whites and blacks...only if they were slaves.

 

[OpnCoronet]

Without slavery there would have been no secession, without secession there would have been no war, that is the historical record. Substitute any of the 'other' causes in slavery's place(or all of them), would there have been secession?
After all most of those 'other' causes existed before the war and after the war. We have many of them, with the exception of slavery, with us to this day and secession or Revolution never occurred before or after the war.

 

[Ellsworth avenger]

Virtually everyone on this board will agree that slavery was the #1 reason for the war. That argument has been won!
For years however respected historians have delineated various other reasons for the war which are numerous and well documented on other threads. A small vocal minority demands that everyone else cow-tow to their beliefs. That they cannot or will not see the evidence in front of their faces does not change that evidence. Life must be either incredably easy or incredably difficult for those who only see things in black or white.

Bama,I appreciate your tenacity in defense of your opinion,but the reality is the southern oligarchy had exspantionist and empirical desires , and the north was not willing to let that occur . North won, South lost.

 

[unionblue]

Virtually everyone on this board will agree that slavery was the #1 reason for the war. That argument has been won!
For years however respected historians have delineated various other reasons for the war which are numerous and well documented on other threads. A small vocal minority demands that everyone else cow-tow to their beliefs. That they cannot or will not see the evidence in front of their faces does not change that evidence. Life must be either incredably easy or incredably difficult for those who only see things in black or white.

Ed,

I'm sorry, but I cannot get past the idea that slavery was the only issue that brought the country to the point where people would actually kill one another over (and believe me, for the sake of my own ancestors, I wish there were).

We saw in 1828-1830 the tariff would not do such.

We see no such action taken over a "big, central, federal government" UNTIL slavery was threatened.

We see the most political agitation and wrangling over compromises concerning slavery.

What other issue would bring about the deaths of hundreds of thousands of American citizens?

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[bama46]

Ed,

I'm sorry, but I cannot get past the idea that slavery was the only issue that brought the country to the point where people would actually kill one another over (and believe me, for the sake of my own ancestors, I wish there were).

We saw in 1828-1830 the tariff would not do such.

We see no such action taken over a "big, central, federal government" UNTIL slavery was threatened.

We see the most political agitation and wrangling over compromises concerning slavery.

What other issue would bring about the deaths of hundreds of thousands of American citizens?

Sincerely,
Unionblue

No one questions that slavery was the #1 reason for the war, but all the sectional differences accumulationg over decades played their part in the ultimate distrust and even hatred that culminated in secession, the firing on Sumpter and war....
Slavery was the stated reason, but the people of 11 states did not wake up one morning and decide that to protect slavery, secession and ultimately war was necessary.

 

[bama46]

Bama,I appreciate your tenacity in defense of your opinion,but the reality is the southern oligarchy had exspantionist and empirical desires , and the north was not willing to let that occur . North won, South lost.

Well, you are right in what you say, especially the won/lost part, but I am unsure what any of that has to do with the subject at hand

 

[unionblue]

No one questions that slavery was the #1 reason for the war,

Ed, even on this very forum we have people who question, if not our-right deny that slavery had ANYTHING to do with the war, let alone agree it was the #1 reason for it.

but all the sectional differences accumulationg over decades played their part in the ultimate distrust and even hatred that culminated in secession, the firing on Sumpter and war....

Ed, I read that the tariff was going down, right to it being the lowest it ever was in US history before the war, the US government can field a handful of federal marshals and just under 16,000 troops, scattered throughout the nation, but most of them on station west of the Mississippi. The most numerous occupation in 1860 was that of farmer, in both the North and the South, and the most contact people had with their federal government was the US Post Office.

The only sectional issue that all the sectional differences accumulating over the decades was the issue of slavery. What other issues got as much play for distrust and even hatred that slavery? In your view, eliminate slavery, and what other issue comes to such a level and mistrust to cause the slaughter of so many Americans?

Slavery was the stated reason, but the people of 11 states did not wake up one morning and decide that to protect slavery, secession and ultimately war was necessary.

I agree, Ed, they did not. But the only issue that had agitated for decades to the level of secession and war appears to be that of slavery.

Unionblue

 

[bama46]

I agree, Ed, they did not. But the only issue that had agitated for decades to the level of secession and war appears to be that of slavery.

Unionblue

We seem to be talking AT each other.. I guess we will just have to disagree

 

[unionblue]

Ed,

I am trying to talk TO you, not AT you, old friend.

I really want to know what in your view were the other issues that would have resulted in Civil War minus slavery. You are of the view that other issues combined with slavery brought on the war, that slavery was the #1 reason, but that there were "other" issues that helped push towards that war. I want to know what you think those issues were.

Sincerely,
Neil