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It was fought by the South over slavery and by the North over federal power. Both sides were fairly explicit about this at the time. Of course, long after the
by dragonwriter 9mo ago
It was fought by the South over slavery and by the North over federal power. Both sides were fairly explicit about this at the time.
Of course, long after the fact, popular opinion on slavery has moved enough that people like to pretend the side that they prefer fought primarily for the opposite reason; the South over (opposition to) federal power and the North over (opposition to) slavery.
- true_religion 9mo agoThe above might seem a little shocking to non Americans, but consider the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation proclamation. The first was because fighting merely for the preservation of the union was not enough to bolster moral. Union forces had been losing or winning pyrrhic victories and the common solider didn’t want to fight to force their southern cousins into a nation they didn’t want to be a part of. So the stated rationale for the war was changed to be about ending slavey now. However the emancipation proclamation only ended the practice in states that were in rebellion, which is not what you would expect from a country who had wanted to end slavery from the start.