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Old 10-01-2012, 08:38 AM
JB3 JB3 is offline
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Location: RI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Botnst View Post
Correct me if I'm wrong, but secession is not an act of war, right? The states seceded but did not invade any other states. Some of them invited federal employees to decamp as soon as possible. Lincoln took exception and invaded the states.
well, that brings the whole basis for the conflict back then into a short paragraph.

The southern states believed it was their right to do so, and the rest of the country did not.

The way I see it, it was a consequence of failure to compromise, which has been one of the strengths of this country. It is easy to label Lincoln as a warmonger, but when we look back and see just how mild his platform was, limiting the SPREAD of slavery further west, its amazing that the southern states decided that instead of compromising, they would leave the union. Personally, I side with preservation of the union over states rights in the defense of slavery, which is after all, what this was really about.

Thats why passions were so high up north, and just as high in the south. Slavery had all but died out in the north, and political power was evenly divided between slave owning states, and non slave owning states, every new non slave state upset the balance
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