----- Original Message ----- From: "Gautam Mukunda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 2:11 PM Subject: Re: L3 Bitter Mellons, Gin and Tonic, and a an Un- reasonable view.
> --- Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Which was the primary concern of the politicians and > > the people in > > power, but *not* of most of the infantry. > > > > The leaders meant X, said Y, the rank-and-file > > believed Y. > > > > Julia > > You know you're both stepping into a bit of a > historical minefield here, right? You could probably > ask 50 Civil War historians and get 50 different > answers on whether the rank-and-file was fighting for > slavery. > > My own answer, btw, would be, "in part, but not as the > largest part" and that doesn't necessarily mean that > they were fighting for slavery, per se, so much as > their own social status (in the sharply hierarchical > South) as not the bottom of the totem pole. But I'm > confident enough in my own ignorance to say that is a > very uncertain opinion. I'm pretty sure that even common people realised that freeing the slaves meant a pretty severe economic depression in the south. So in some ways it was about money. > > It is perhaps the greatest irony (among many) of the > Civil War that perhaps the single most important > reason for the South's defeat - the genius of Abraham > Lincoln - could _only_ be utilized in the meritocratic > North, where a dirt-poor farm boy had the chance to > rise to the Presidency, something that would have been > inconceivable in Southern society. > Suuuure! <G> But could a dirt poor workhouse boy ever become president? <G> xponent The Advantages Of A Frontier Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
