It is all subterfuge

It has been a while since I got on my history soapbox, and I figure that since my class is wrapping up, this is a perfect opportunity to babble on to all of my readers -- all 4 or 5 of you!

So, if you are still with me then here is Part I of my history story. We just finished talking about the Civil War and Reconstruction, which are fascinating time periods. The Civil War was tragic on so many levels. Basically, the men who fought and died in that war fought because of the imperfections that our democracy was founded upon, namely slavery. Now people will say that the War was fought over States' Rights or Saving the Union, but it was really about slavery. States' Rights was inseparable with slavery. Saving the Union? Also, inseparable from the future of slavery. So, say what you want, but no matter what people think the Civil War was about, it is really just a distraction from the moral issue of slavery. In fact, the states had argued over States' Rights since the founding of our country and it it got really bad with the Nullifcation Crisis in the 1830s. But this was mostly about tariffs, and frankly, no one is willing to die over a question of tariffs.

What it comes down to is slavery. Slaveholders in the South weilded an incredible amount of power, and that power was waning in the federal government because of immigration and industrialization in the North. So, feeling besieged, they started getting a little crazy! They began arguing that slaves were the "happiest laboring class in the world" and that they were actually treated better than northern wage workers. Then they started arguing for taking lands in Mexico, Central America and the Carribean in order to spread slavery. Of course, they cloaked all of this in language like "way of life" and "culture" but they were really referring to their position as slaveholders and owning human beings.

Now the North recognized the morality of this problem. Don't give them too much credit though. An overwhelming majority of white northerners had no intention of creating a racially equal society but they did at least see the problem with slavery. In fact, they insisted upon the creation of a more equal society in the South during Reconstruction than they had in the North. Unfortunately, they lost interest pretty quickly and the southern leaders took advantage of this disinterest to end Reconstruction and to formalize racial segregation. I actually find Reconstruction much more interesting than the war itself, because it is so convoluted and twisted. But that is another story for another day....

Thanks for tuning in.