----- Original Message ----- From: "John D. Giorgis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 10:17 PM Subject: Re: Why fight in the Civil War?
> At 03:13 PM 3/1/2004 -0600 Dan Minette wrote: > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Julia Thompson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> Some of those doing the fighting were fighting for states' rights, so > >> arguably it was *fought* over that. > >> > >> A lot of those in the South put their state above the nation. Lee > >> wouldn't fight for the Union because his Virginia was part of the > >> Confederacy. > > Dan pretty much beat me to this, but I wanted to phrase essentially what he > was saying in simpler terms. > > A friend of mine and I recently had a long discussion regarding the > motivations of the "ordinary Confederate soldier" with an outstanding NPS > Ranger at Richmond National Battlefield - Cold Harbor a couple weekends > ago. > > He pointed out that every white Southerner knew that he was fighting to > defend a system that ensured that no matter how low you were, no matter how > much you messed up, in this system you were always "better" than every > single black man. I have no doubt that there were people who believed that way. I've even met a few who spouted that kind of rhetoric. But I find it hard to credit that even half of Southerners held beliefs that extreme. Those Abolitionists who worked the South were not all Northern infiltrators. My wife has an ancestor who was part of a company of Alabamans who fought for the Union. My point being that not all Southerners were extreme racist bigots. Of course I recognise that there were enough of them to seceed, but such a blanket statement like the one above is a bit insulting because it is *too* general. I don't care where you go, there are always a variety of memes floating though a populace. > > In addition, while it is true that most white Southerners did not own > slaves, a great majority of them were likely employed by, had very close > family members employed by, or otherwise commercially relied upon the > business of - the local slave-holding plantation owner. Thus, it is fair > to say that a majority of white Southerners were part of the "slave > economy", even if not owning slaves directly. > > Thus, even for the rank-and-file of the Confederate army it is pretty safe > to say that they were "fighting for slavery", even if this would not be > specifically articulated in their own minds. > I think that is to some extent "spin". The kind where only part of the truth is presented in order to make a point. I suspect that it originates with the Radical Republicans (The Reconstruction era ones, not the contemporary ones <G>) as part of their program to vilify the South in Northern minds for the purpose of gaining support in punishing the South. xponent The Party Of Lincoln Is The Party Of Reconstruction Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
