3 ms·

If you can get past "north good, south bad" in studying the politics surrounding the war, and look at/ include things other than just slavery, you'll realize pr

If you can get past "north good, south bad" in studying the politics surrounding the war, and look at/ include things other than just slavery, you'll realize pretty quickly that Lincoln was more about centralizing and solidifying national power at any cost than he was concerned with any moral crusade. He is due his credit for maintaining the Union, but the sainthood often bestowed on him is misplaced, especially in regards to race. The politics and power dynamics of building the transcontinental railroad might be the historical lens where it's easiest to see the bigger picture, that isn't clouded by and doesn't automatically collapse into a battle over the slavery narrative. (Especially given the labor used in its construction.)

Lammy 5y ago
> Lincoln was more about centralizing and solidifying national power Hence why the Lincoln Memorial rests his arms on two fasces: https://www.nps.gov/articles/secret-symbol-of-the-lincoln-memorial.htm https://www.nps.gov/articles/secret-symbol-of-the-lincoln-me... In fact the secession of the Southern states was what finally gave Republicans the congressional majority necessary to pass the Pacific Railway Act and the Homestead Act in the first place: https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2012/01/06/secession-congress-and-a-civil-war-awakening-at-the-archives/ https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2012/01/06/secession-con... The South was still reeling from tariffs introduced a few decades earlier which favored the industrial Northern states and hurt the agricultural South, so they tended to be against westward expansion that would open up even more agricultural competition: https://www.thoughtco.com/tariff-of-abominations-1773349 https://www.thoughtco.com/tariff-of-abominations-1773349 Disclaimer: this is not intended to be any kind of defense for the hereditary chattel slavery system which comprised much of the southern agricultural workforce, which is horrific and basically indefensible. I just regret all those times I snidely asked “States’ right to what?” without really getting it lol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullification_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullification_crisis
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > I just regret all those times I snidely asked “States’ right to what?” without really getting it All those other things you enumerate were not the central focus. It was centrally and foundationally about slavery, which Confederate leaders were quite eloquent in expressing: “The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. [...] “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.” https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/cornerstone-speech https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/cornersto...

Lammy 5y ago

> Lincoln was more about centralizing and solidifying national power Hence why the Lincoln Memorial rests his arms on two fasces: https://www.nps.gov/articles/secret-symbol-of-the-lincoln-memorial.htm https://www.nps.gov/articles/secret-symbol-of-the-lincoln-me... In fact the secession of the Southern states was what finally gave Republicans the congressional majority necessary to pass the Pacific Railway Act and the Homestead Act in the first place: https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2012/01/06/secession-congress-and-a-civil-war-awakening-at-the-archives/ https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2012/01/06/secession-con... The South was still reeling from tariffs introduced a few decades earlier which favored the industrial Northern states and hurt the agricultural South, so they tended to be against westward expansion that would open up even more agricultural competition: https://www.thoughtco.com/tariff-of-abominations-1773349 https://www.thoughtco.com/tariff-of-abominations-1773349 Disclaimer: this is not intended to be any kind of defense for the hereditary chattel slavery system which comprised much of the southern agricultural workforce, which is horrific and basically indefensible. I just regret all those times I snidely asked “States’ right to what?” without really getting it lol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullification_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullification_crisis

dragonwriter 5y ago
> I just regret all those times I snidely asked “States’ right to what?” without really getting it All those other things you enumerate were not the central focus. It was centrally and foundationally about slavery, which Confederate leaders were quite eloquent in expressing: “The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. [...] “Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.” https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/cornerstone-speech https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/cornersto...