Slavery died in the north for largely economic reasons. It was neither viable nor desirable. There were no malaria infested plantations to work, and there was a steady supply of cheap (white) labor.
In many places in the north though, there were strong abolitionist forces, separate from economic ones. For instance, Pennsylvania was founded by Quakers, who opposed slavery since the foundation of the colony.
And if the South won, slavery in the south would have continued longer than it did, making American history even more embarrassing than it is today. Slavery would still have been abolished at some point, perhaps after a second unnecessary war.
-Todd
Yeah, guys, the South was just trying to keep their freedom from the tyrannical Federals up in Washington.
The War of Northern Aggression was about freedom.
…
(Or, y’know, the vile fucking position that owning human beings is a desirable thing for the government to allow. Because it’s fucking splitting hairs between that and packing untermenschen into death camps. Because slavery is straight-up fucking evil, and one of the very very very few things I’d ever support going to war to stamp out.
But hey, this chicken looks like it hasn’t had enough. Let’s keep on fucking it.)
The Quakers were very ahead of their time, in many ways. An admirable people.
Slavery may have been on it’s way out, but the war certainly accelerated the process. We can be thankful for that. We should also be aware of the cost though. More than 750,000 men were killed during the war. The US population at that time? Just 31 Million.
The human cost of the war was appalling and it left wounds that would last generations.
I think we can all probably agree that the first priority of the North was not to end slavery in the US. However, it’s basically impossible to suggest that the continuation of slavery was not the main objective of the South.
Smoke screens:
People are easy to distract with non-issues. Dragging one non-issue to public view is usefull to hide a real issue on current events. Like the TTP.
List of usual non issues that work:
- Something related with gays
- Something related with weed
- Something a public figure say that make some people angry
Is not that these issues are of zero importance. If you are gay, the gay rights are important for you. Is that a big group of people is dumb enough to get distracted by these issues, even if they will not change their life in the slighly.
If you don’t smoke weed, who cares if is legalized or not.
People is dumb, politicians are smart.
This flag thing is used to obscure the TTP thing.
You’re suggesting that lots of people care about TTP, which is not obvious and I would suggest not true at all. You’re also suggesting some sort of grand conspiracy that would involve lots of different groups that don’t like to work together to distract people.
The more obvious analysis is that 9 people were murdered by a racist psycho and the confederate flag is an issue that has two very clear sides and a lot of inherent drama. It’s an easy win for both politicians and news media to take a side, so it’s going to drive the news cycle for a week or so.
Unlike this TTP thing, which I actually think is TPP, but honestly don’t know, because it’s been talked about for weeks, and is super, duper boring. It’s also going to get passed now, so the story is over.
On the internet it’s easy to fall into the trap that things like this trade deal and Bernie Sanders are HUGE DEALS that everyone is talking about. But really it’s just internet people talking about them.
I think Bernie has more actual conversation than the TPP (you’re correct on the spelling). It is very rare for people to notice such things, especially since the details are vague, and the effects obscure. Certainly it actually is fairly significant, but it is hard to explain to the average punter why that is.
Sorry Teiman, they didn’t need a distraction for that. People weren’t going to pay attention no matter what.
Maybe in the USA. In defense of Teiman, the TTIP (the Atlantic trade deal, not the pacific one, and what Teiman meant) is all over the news here (major newspapers, front page and editorials) and it’s not that clear it will pass (since the EU commission just had to do some weird legal judo to avoid it being permanently repelled -it’s now in limbo-).
I don’t believe in the smokescreen theory, but if it’s right, it’s certainly working on you, guys…
“Spontaneous” parade of trucks with Confederate flags: https://youtu.be/3b7PK_1hV98
KKK plans to rally outside the SC statehouse to support the Confederate flag: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/29/kkk-group-plans-rally-outside-of-south-carolina-statehouse/
If there’s any group that you don’t really want showing up to support your cause, when you’re trying to tell others that “it’s not about racism” it’s the KKK.
This is related and pretty interesting:
A worker at a plantation historical museum gives anecdotes of what some visitors thought and asked about slavery.
Sure makes it more easy to understand how some people could thing the confederate flag represents anything other than treason and slavery.
I literally burst out laughing at my desk.
“Yeah, well, Egyptians enslaved the Israelites, so I guess what goes around comes around!”
WTF
Clay Travis writing for Fox Sports
… we have lost all ability to put things into context. There’s a difference between what’s said in church and what’s said in a comedy club; there’s a difference between a racist waving the Confederate flag and Sons of Confederate Veteran members sitting down to debate Southern strategy on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. But not on social media. Social media doesn’t exist for context. It exists for immediate expressions of outrage.
If the Confederate flag appears at a KKK rally, okay, I have a pretty good sense for how it’s being used. But if it appears on a Confederate cemetery or in a Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting, it’s probably something different.
Thanks for linking.
All I got out of the article – which was a very interesting article, again, thanks for linking – was that people are fucking ignorant as fuck when it comes to US history.
Yes, it “makes it more easy to understand how some people could thing the confederate flag represents anything other than treason and slavery.” Because the people who think such are uneducated at best. Yeesh.
Most of those folks weren’t ignorant of history. They damn well know that being a slave was terrible. They just want to deny it for some mindboggling reason.
It’s not to avoid guilt or something, either. I feel absolutely zero guilt about slavery, other than the most abstract guilt of being a human and humans do bad stuff to each other constantly. I never enslaved anyone. Honestly, all my ancestors came over after slavery was done. But even if they didn’t, and had owned slaves, i don’t think I’d feel guilty anyway, because children are not responsible for the sins of their father.
But I would not ever want to try and deny the terribleness of slavery, or the US treatment of native Americans. Denying things happened doesn’t somehow make them go away.
Fair enough. And I have the same reaction to slavery myself – I don’t feel guilty on a personal level, at all. At the same time, the culture I grew up/live in is built to some extent on the back of slave labor and we should recognize/atone for that as a society.
Pretending that I don’t get any advantage out of being born a white dude in the 1980s because I didn’t personally enslave anyone is silly in the extreme.
By the same measure, I wouldn’t dwell on your relative good fortune. I think all that society can ask is that you (and I for that matter) appreciate the point, and do something meaningful with your life.