Just to be clear, the history bit to learn here is that the South started the war and the North never would’ve started it on their own?
Essentially. Lincoln was elected as an anti-slavery candidate, but the position of the Republican Party (THE anti-slavery party of the period) was that slavery was to be isolated and let to die out on its own, as industrial and rationalized production had begun to undermine the profitability of slavery. In theory.
Whether that would have worked or not, it was an opinion that many of the Southern slaver aristocracy agreed with - they believed slavery needed to expand, or it would die. Rather than stop for a moment and consider the wisdom of an economic system that, by their own estimates, was not sustainable, they decided that the North stopping them from expanding slavery was, itself, a form of the worst oppression imaginable (obviously, MUCH worse than literal fucking chattel slavery).
So they seceded. And in doing so, they erased all incentive for Northern abolitionists to stick to the “Let it die out quietly and slowly, or we might have a very bloody war on our hands” line, and radicalized much of the north into advocacy for the total and immediate abolition of slavery.
Thank you Pug, btw. It’s fun to come for the memes. It’s a step above the rest to learn something in the process. Literally a gentleman and a scholar.
Just doing my best to spread a little trivia on the fediverse! 🙏
and feel like my college years weren’t wastedIt makes learning fun again. MLFA!
They didn’t just secede, they started shooting. If the south had not attacked the US Army, I don’t know if the USA would have had the political will for the necessary sacrifices.
I wonder if that was a kind of déformation professionnelle. They were slavers and used to force their will through immediate, massive, brutal violence.
déformation professionnelle
Fascinating. First time I’ve heard this term. I’ll have to use it in the future.
There was no desire in the North to go to War with the South, but plenty of folks in the South wanted a war.
Lincoln siad that if he could preserve the Union and keep slavery, he’d do it. It was Southerners thinking that they had to do it that started the War.
The patron saint of this sub, General Sherman himself, despite never being quite pro-slavery, and becoming radically pro-African-American rights after the war, was actually close friends with members of the slaver aristocracy before the war. He sent a very prescient letter to one such friend before the war proper broke out:
You people of the South don’t know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don’t know what you’re talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it. . . . Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth—right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.
If I had a time machine, I’d use it to go back in time and hand him a microphone to drop after that magnificent piece of writing
Hear, hear!
The aouth went to war because they wanted to force the north to support their slavery by arresting and returning escaped slaves, and the north refused.
Even better The war started cuz they were too weak to control their slaves and a bunch of them.escaped. the south wanted to force northern states to round up and return the runaway slaves at cost to the northern states.
But… but… muh heritage! And muh pappy’s heritage! And muh pappy’s pappy’s pappy’s heritage!
