Obama Leading Senate Dems to Slaughter

[Dedicated Mind]

Originally Posted by deacon blues

A little history lesson: Why was the Union threatened? Because Lincoln was elected in 1860 and he was against the spread of SLAVERY to new territories. His opponent in the election was Democrat Stephen Douglas who was a proponent of "popular sovereignty" the idea that local citizens should decide whether slavery should spread to new territories. His support of the Nebraska-Kansas Act of 1854 which undermined the previous Missouri Compromise helped him to garner the Democratic nomination. He was seen as someone who would allow slavery to spread, and since there was a new party, the Republican party formed on an abolitionist platform, the Southern States were hoping for a Douglas win. When Lincoln won the presidency it spelled the beginning of cessation of the southern states from the union. So, history is explicit that the cost of 600,000 American lives was because of slavery no matter how you want to slice it.

If the Southern States were threatening the Union because the sitting president was against the spread of slavery, how are you going to redefine history to say that it was about preserving the union? Why was the Union being threatened in the first place? S-L-A-V-E-R-Y.

Actually, you make the argument that white supremacists and a lot of southern revisionists make about the Civil War. They say it was about state's rights, not slavery. They recoil at the idea that the real issue was human trafficking and the inhumanity of forced labor on individuals.

I'm not saying slavery wasn't an issue. I am just saying that thousands of whites didn't sacrifice their lives to free black slaves. They had northern economic interests and the interests of a unified nation that was greater than the welfare of black slaves. would you die to free black men or chinese from slavery today? no, but if your economic interests and the glory of your country were at stake, then yes. it was personal, not altruistic.

[deacon blues]

Originally Posted by aegsm76

DB - who are you talking to?

The Mind

[deacon blues]

Originally Posted by Dedicated Mind

I'm not saying slavery wasn't an issue. I am just saying that thousands of whites didn't sacrifice their lives to free black slaves. They had northern economic interests and the interests of a unified nation that was greater than the welfare of black slaves. would you die to free black men or chinese from slavery today? no, but if your economic interests and the glory of your country were at stake, then yes. it was personal, not altruistic.

It's simple. Read the history leading up the war. The abolitionist movement in the North was fomented and fed by Yankee preachers and leaders. Other voices were helping to shape the politics of the day. The issue was slavery. It divided North from South. When a candidate from the party that came into existence as a result of the abolitionist movement became president, the South began jumping ship. Whether people were motivated by economics or preserving the Union is immaterial, slavery was the catalyst. Without the issue of slavery, the Civil War does not happen. What more is there to talk about?

[deacon blues]

600,000 men, mostly white, died fighting to bring an end to slavery