Thats no doubt true....but to say it had nothing to do with slavery??
Is foolish.....
Most of the world’s cotton came from the south. It takes land, labor, and capital. Regardless of where the ships came from I’d say the south had a higher demand for cheap labor.
Slavery is an abomination in any society and existed at one point in all of them. The south’s transition out of it would have eventually happened, and they knew it. Just a matter of technology and time, both cut short during the war. Cotton gin for starters.
Anyway, that’s kinda my perspective.
For what it's worth the cotton gin was a driver for the increased need for labor in south because it increased production so much. The civil war would never have happened if the emancipation proclamation would have been enacted at the beginning of the war since there was not even enough support for it in the northern states at the time. Blacks, Irish, and Chinese were not treated very well in the 1800's anyplace in the US. That was also the area when England starved millions of Irish to death so they could sell their food at a better profit. So really the whole planet was pretty harsh by today's standards
This is an excellent point. Abolitionist, people who were against slavery for humanitarian reasons, compromised about 10% of the people in the North pre-civil war. The real opposition between the sections was along economic, political, and racial lines. Some western territories opposed slavery not because they liked black people but because they did not want any around under any circumstances. The war was indeed all about slavery but slavery was a very complex issue in those days. The founders punted on the issue to get the South on board with the Revolution and subsequent generations squabbled and made compromises up until the war.
Today everyone is against slavery for humanitarian reasons. So the war between the states is portrayed by media, entertainment, and what passes for academia as Northern abolitionists who were so tore up about blacks being mistreated and enslaved that they went to war to free them from mean Southern people. Not that simple by far.
Yes, the world used to be pretty harsh. Those of us from the boomer generation to present day with the exception of those who served in one of the wars have been living in the most gentle of times and we really don't have a clue what life was like in the 19th century.
Last edited by RJY66; 07/16/19.
"Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants". --- William Penn
