Slavery & the Civil War

Unknown Soldier · 03-02-2012, 02:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr November

I think Tuna and Mr Dave are on to something. You can't separate the Southern way of life and Slavery during the time of the Civil War. The war might have been about any number of other factors, but because the south had naturally developed into an area dependent on slave labour, any one of those factors would have likely been deeply defined by slavery.

I mentioned something similiar to this on an earlier post, slavery was the southern way of life it built their economy which was strictly agricultural based and it was totally in contrast to the much richer industralized north. Was war inevitable when the North decreed slavery an abomination and needed to be eradicated? Or was it inevitable when the southern states seceded from the Union?

midnight rain · 02-08-2012, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skaltezon

That's my understanding of it. The South's economy depended on slave labor, and the threat of abolition forced slave states to secede. Then after the bloodiest war in US history plans to rebuild the South got sidetracked somehow, which left the vanquished with a lot of lingering bad feelings for the victors.

What's the other story?

I'm sure hip hop bunny hop could rattle off a bunch of alternate explanations.

States rights, differing economies, South felt it was being disrespected, etc.

All of which were definitely true, but slavery still would be the chief reason for the Civil War, despite what some Southerners still argue today (in order to justify their Confederate flag waving). That's just my opinion though.

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