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March 19, 2004
Civil War Fought Over Slavery
Okay, that headline should be a dog bites man story, so obvious as to not be worth mentioning.
But its not, since many conservatives will say the war was fought for the principle of "states rights", with slavery being just an incidental aspect of the broader principle.
This completely ignores history-- as I noted in this article back in 2001, the South loved strong national power as long as it supported slavery.
But if you want the most obvious evidence that the war was at slavery-- and save this to quote to racist historians who argue otherwise-- just read the declarations that led to secession. Try this one by the state of Mississippi. It's obsessive on the point of slavery-- it's second sentence states:
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world.Those who wax nostalgic for the Confederacy are waxing nostalgic for slavery, nothing more and nothing less.
Check out Arnold California at Demagogue who analyzes the declaration almost line by line.
Posted by Nathan at March 19, 2004 12:38 PM
