It was 100% slavery. They gave other legal arguments to make their position seem more justified but they only seceded when they wouldn’t be allowed to take slavery into new territories. The growth of the federal government was opportunism in the guise of preventing civil war, imo, but remember it was our bloodiest war and modern ideologies could not have been predicted by the people of the time
No, they were told it was for their state. Do you think American soldiers have the same motivation the government has to go to war? Why would you think it was different then or at any time in history?
The South attacked first, that’s not defense of self-government and their homes. That was the motivation of the average foot soldier but not the people starting the war. Part of what they wanted to self-govern was slavery, and was the main conflict between northern and southern politicians.
The people that mattered did. Do you think the lowly peasant was particularly powerful in the 1800s? People with sway were wealthy land owners. The people that could afford slaves and often had them. They could give whatever reason they wanted and as long as the peasants believed the message it would be hard to convince them otherwise as information moved slowly.
The people that mattered did not. The South seceeded for money. Slave labor generated that money. Threaten to remove slaves, and you threatened to destroy the Southern economy.
The Union then invaded the Confederacy, and the South fought to repel a foreign invader. People didn't take up arms to protect an aristocracy, despite what northern revisionists would like you to believe. The regular person took up arms to defend their state, and then the Confederacy as a whole.
It was 100% slavery. They gave other legal arguments to make their position seem more justified but they only seceded when they wouldn’t be allowed to take slavery into new territories. The growth of the federal government was opportunism in the guise of preventing civil war, imo, but remember it was our bloodiest war and modern ideologies could not have been predicted by the people of the time
Most men in the South did not own slaves. Do you think they took up arms so that rich planters could keep their property?
No, they were told it was for their state. Do you think American soldiers have the same motivation the government has to go to war? Why would you think it was different then or at any time in history?
That's exactly my point. The war was primarily about defending self-government and their homes.
The South attacked first, that’s not defense of self-government and their homes. That was the motivation of the average foot soldier but not the people starting the war. Part of what they wanted to self-govern was slavery, and was the main conflict between northern and southern politicians.
The people that mattered did. Do you think the lowly peasant was particularly powerful in the 1800s? People with sway were wealthy land owners. The people that could afford slaves and often had them. They could give whatever reason they wanted and as long as the peasants believed the message it would be hard to convince them otherwise as information moved slowly.
The people that mattered did not. The South seceeded for money. Slave labor generated that money. Threaten to remove slaves, and you threatened to destroy the Southern economy.
The Union then invaded the Confederacy, and the South fought to repel a foreign invader. People didn't take up arms to protect an aristocracy, despite what northern revisionists would like you to believe. The regular person took up arms to defend their state, and then the Confederacy as a whole.