KaiBear said:Porteroso said:Redbrickbear said:Porteroso said:Redbrickbear said:Porteroso said:Redbrickbear said:Porteroso said:Redbrickbear said:Porteroso said:Redbrickbear said:LIB,MR BEARS said:
Within this nation, a nation built on rebellion, we argue the legality of …(checks note) rebellion.
Yep,
Can American colonies break off from Britain? Yes
Can Texas break off from Mexico? Yes
Can the Southern States break off from the USA? Nooooooooo!!!!
Freely enter the States? No, the existing states have to accept any new state. And all state representatives take oaths to protect the Union, so it makes sense that leaving willy nilly is a violation of that oath, and the only way to leave being as amicable of an exit as entry.
How is that relevant? Are you saying you share that sentiment? So if 1 state wanted to secede, you think all the others should be ok with it? Since there is no process…!
Just interesting that "kill them if they leave" was not necessarily the majority opinion of Northerners in 1861
Again you are very interested in the idea of a "process"…but you don't need a process to assert your rights. And the right to independence is the great right of all
Again, what if 1 state wanted to leave and the others said no? .
No state has a right to tell another state what to do.
And certainly no state has a right to make war on another to keep them inside an artificial political union.
The United States is an artificial political union?
No state has ever successfully left.
.
You think it's organic? It's a created political union like the EU…it's not somehow holy or created by God to be eternal. If it does not serve the needs of the States and the people then it should (and can be) abolished and broken up.
No State has left because the Federal government wages harsh war on those that do.
"We kill you if you try to leave"
The states were closely related from the moment each colony was formed.
Totally incorrect.
In many cases the various colonies were very different from one another.
For example Georgia was founded as a penal colony.
KaiBear said:historian said:
Idle speculation that can never be proved or disproved. Any such argument would have been worthless because the South started the war and they were traitors. However, as I just mentioned, the South did win the propaganda war to some extent after the war.
The southerners were no more 'traitors ' than George Washington.
The only difference was George won his war.
( Due in part to extensive and timely French aid )
Porteroso said:KaiBear said:historian said:
Idle speculation that can never be proved or disproved. Any such argument would have been worthless because the South started the war and they were traitors. However, as I just mentioned, the South did win the propaganda war to some extent after the war.
The southerners were no more 'traitors ' than George Washington.
The only difference was George won his war.
( Due in part to extensive and timely French aid )
If today there was a rebellion in China that failed to install democracy, it would go down as a heroic effort.
Redbrickbear said:
Obviously the South saw slavery as the basis of its economic system.
Lincoln and the Republican Party did as well….and had no objection to its continued existence.
They even offered the Corwin Amendment to make explicit the United States Constitution's protection of slavery.
But slavery was not the cause of the war…secession was the cause of the war.
Lincoln simply would not let the Southern States leave and create a new nation.
He did not care if they held slaves
Frank Galvin said:Redbrickbear said:
Obviously the South saw slavery as the basis of its economic system.
Lincoln and the Republican Party did as well….and had no objection to its continued existence.
They even offered the Corwin Amendment to make explicit the United States Constitution's protection of slavery.
But slavery was not the cause of the war…secession was the cause of the war.
Lincoln simply would not let the Southern States leave and create a new nation.
He did not care if they held slaves
The fact that in a civilized society 150 years later there are people who say " it would have been a better thing if my ancestors had been allowed to go on enslaving your ancestors for another 25-50 years"
Frank Galvin said:Redbrickbear said:
Obviously the South saw slavery as the basis of its economic system.
Lincoln and the Republican Party did as well….and had no objection to its continued existence.
They even offered the Corwin Amendment to make explicit the United States Constitution's protection of slavery.
But slavery was not the cause of the war…secession was the cause of the war.
Lincoln simply would not let the Southern States leave and create a new nation.
He did not care if they held slaves
You are incorrect about Lincoln's views on slavery. Lincoln objected deeply to the idea of slavery.
He did so despite believing in Caucasian superiority. He thought blacks deserved equal rights but that they would not obtain equal status because they did not have the same characteristics as whites. He also recognized the slavery was unsustainable.
Your characterization of the cause of the war is stupidly simplistic. It takes two sides to fight a war. The South seceded so they could enslave people. That is the point of the declaration in the OP. So while Lincoln fought to save the Union, slavery was a "but for" cause of the war.
The fact that in a civilized society 150 years later there are people who say " it would have been a better thing if my ancestors had been allowed to go on enslaving your ancestors for another 25-50 years" demonstrates racism still exists.
historian said:Frank Galvin said:Redbrickbear said:
Obviously the South saw slavery as the basis of its economic system.
Lincoln and the Republican Party did as well….and had no objection to its continued existence.
They even offered the Corwin Amendment to make explicit the United States Constitution's protection of slavery.
But slavery was not the cause of the war…secession was the cause of the war.
Lincoln simply would not let the Southern States leave and create a new nation.
He did not care if they held slaves
You are incorrect about Lincoln's views on slavery. Lincoln objected deeply to the idea of slavery.
He did so despite believing in Caucasian superiority. He thought blacks deserved equal rights but that they would not obtain equal status because they did not have the same characteristics as whites. He also recognized the slavery was unsustainable.
Your characterization of the cause of the war is stupidly simplistic. It takes two sides to fight a war. The South seceded so they could enslave people. That is the point of the declaration in the OP. So while Lincoln fought to save the Union, slavery was a "but for" cause of the war.
The fact that in a civilized society 150 years later there are people who say " it would have been a better thing if my ancestors had been allowed to go on enslaving your ancestors for another 25-50 years" demonstrates racism still exists.
Lincoln objected to slavery morally but as a political issue he would not touch it. He believed it was unconstitutional to end slavery and, arguably, it was. The war changed all that: he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, after the Battle of Antietam, and it into effect on January 1, 1863. Later Congress passed and he signed the 13th amendment abolishing it completely. That certainly was constitutional!
historian said:
The Republicans Party was founded in 1856 with its foundation being the immorality of slavery. They wanted it to end but politically did not seek abolition because of the constitutional issue. Their focus was to prevent its expansion. They were able to do that.
historian said:
The Republicans Party was founded in 1856 with its foundation being the immorality of slavery. .
The key word there is "necessary."Redbrickbear said:ATL Bear said:It is the cause for secession and rebellion in both instances that is at issue. The Declaration of Independence laid out the reason for rebellion from England, just as the Declaration of Causes laid out the secession from the United States. This semantic legal argument is a distraction from the clear fact slavery drove the decision and rebellion...Redbrickbear said:historian said:
Maybe emotionally, but not legally. Lincoln made a strong case against secession in his first inaugural address.
.
Of course he did.
Because symbolically he was standing in the same place as George III was 90 years before…..those dastardly rebels needed to be kept in line and under control.
Of course it just makes Lincoln more of a hypocrite that he was making war when secession was NOT illegal by US law at the time. While secession was illegal under British law.
The British at least had the law on their side…Lincoln did not
But in all honesty that is not the issue.
For good reasons or bad…whenever a sovereign political entity (and the people) wish to dissolve the bonds which have connected them to another..they may do so.
Independence is the prime goal and right
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature's God entitle them…" -American Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776
"…the Powers of Government may be reassumed by the People, whensoever it shall become necessary to their Happiness…" - New York Ratifying Convention, July 26, 1788
"we are struggling for constitutional freedom. We are upholding the great principles which our fathers bequeathed us, and if we should succeed, and become, as we shall, the dominant nation of this continent, we shall perpetuate and diffuse the very liberty for which Washington bled, and which the heroes of the Revolution achieved. We are not revolutionists we are resisting revolution. We are upholding the true doctrines of the Federal Constitution. We are conservative. Our success is the triumph of all that has been considered established in the past." - James Henley Thornwell
"The Earth is littered with the ruins of empires that once believed they were eternal."
-Percy Shelley
KaiBear said:historian said:
The Republicans Party was founded in 1856 with its foundation being the immorality of slavery. They wanted it to end but politically did not seek abolition because of the constitutional issue. Their focus was to prevent its expansion. They were able to do that.
With respect
Northern abolitionists had made it perfectly clear their goal was the elimination of slavery without any financial compensation to the owners .
When a single healthy slave was worth almost 1000 dollars. In a time when a skilled white carpenter was fortunate to earn FOUR dollars a DAY.
The Republican Party was the party of the abolitionist movement. The South could clearly see what was coming down the road.
EXACTLYhistorian said:KaiBear said:historian said:
The Republicans Party was founded in 1856 with its foundation being the immorality of slavery. They wanted it to end but politically did not seek abolition because of the constitutional issue. Their focus was to prevent its expansion. They were able to do that.
With respect
Northern abolitionists had made it perfectly clear their goal was the elimination of slavery without any financial compensation to the owners .
When a single healthy slave was worth almost 1000 dollars. In a time when a skilled white carpenter was fortunate to earn FOUR dollars a DAY.
The Republican Party was the party of the abolitionist movement. The South could clearly see what was coming down the road.
They sought to prevent the US adding any more slave states. Texas in 1845 was the last slave state to be admitted.
If you're referring to Saint Domingue, Jefferson Davis wasn't even born when that was concluded. It was pivotal in King George ending slavery in the British Empire.KaiBear said:EXACTLYhistorian said:KaiBear said:historian said:
The Republicans Party was founded in 1856 with its foundation being the immorality of slavery. They wanted it to end but politically did not seek abolition because of the constitutional issue. Their focus was to prevent its expansion. They were able to do that.
With respect
Northern abolitionists had made it perfectly clear their goal was the elimination of slavery without any financial compensation to the owners .
When a single healthy slave was worth almost 1000 dollars. In a time when a skilled white carpenter was fortunate to earn FOUR dollars a DAY.
The Republican Party was the party of the abolitionist movement. The South could clearly see what was coming down the road.
They sought to prevent the US adding any more slave states. Texas in 1845 was the last slave state to be admitted.
Jefferson Davis and other southerners in the Senate and House were keenly aware that since no more slave states were going to be allowed into the Union; the political balance of power in both chambers would irrevocably be handed to Northern Republicans and their abolitionist supporters.
The South was politically trapped and economically threatened.
In addition the prior slaughter of thousands of French inhabitants of Haiti ( only a handful of women were spared to be concubines ) by black revolutionists terrified Jefferson Davis and other slave owners.
Who sincerely believed that key Northern abolitionists would turn a blind to such a widespread massacre occuring in the South.
ATL Bear said:If you're referring to Saint Domingue, Jefferson Davis wasn't even born when that was concluded. It was pivotal in King George ending slavery in the British Empire.KaiBear said:EXACTLYhistorian said:KaiBear said:historian said:
The Republicans Party was founded in 1856 with its foundation being the immorality of slavery. They wanted it to end but politically did not seek abolition because of the constitutional issue. Their focus was to prevent its expansion. They were able to do that.
With respect
Northern abolitionists had made it perfectly clear their goal was the elimination of slavery without any financial compensation to the owners .
When a single healthy slave was worth almost 1000 dollars. In a time when a skilled white carpenter was fortunate to earn FOUR dollars a DAY.
The Republican Party was the party of the abolitionist movement. The South could clearly see what was coming down the road.
They sought to prevent the US adding any more slave states. Texas in 1845 was the last slave state to be admitted.
Jefferson Davis and other southerners in the Senate and House were keenly aware that since no more slave states were going to be allowed into the Union; the political balance of power in both chambers would irrevocably be handed to Northern Republicans and their abolitionist supporters.
The South was politically trapped and economically threatened.
In addition the prior slaughter of thousands of French inhabitants of Haiti ( only a handful of women were spared to be concubines ) by black revolutionists terrified Jefferson Davis and other slave owners.
Who sincerely believed that key Northern abolitionists would turn a blind to such a widespread massacre occuring in the South.
And there were proposals for compensating slave owners. They did it in DC at $300 per freed slave. There was a real entrenchment of the slave trade in the South, not just for labor but the actual buying and selling of slaves. Once the major empires started to abolish and/or restrain the slave trade within their colonies, the domestic slave trade grew exponentially. Probably why the proposals floated weren't enough.
The Jacobin revolutionaries throughout the French empire were notably brutal, including those in Paris.KaiBear said:ATL Bear said:If you're referring to Saint Domingue, Jefferson Davis wasn't even born when that was concluded. It was pivotal in King George ending slavery in the British Empire.KaiBear said:EXACTLYhistorian said:KaiBear said:historian said:
The Republicans Party was founded in 1856 with its foundation being the immorality of slavery. They wanted it to end but politically did not seek abolition because of the constitutional issue. Their focus was to prevent its expansion. They were able to do that.
With respect
Northern abolitionists had made it perfectly clear their goal was the elimination of slavery without any financial compensation to the owners .
When a single healthy slave was worth almost 1000 dollars. In a time when a skilled white carpenter was fortunate to earn FOUR dollars a DAY.
The Republican Party was the party of the abolitionist movement. The South could clearly see what was coming down the road.
They sought to prevent the US adding any more slave states. Texas in 1845 was the last slave state to be admitted.
Jefferson Davis and other southerners in the Senate and House were keenly aware that since no more slave states were going to be allowed into the Union; the political balance of power in both chambers would irrevocably be handed to Northern Republicans and their abolitionist supporters.
The South was politically trapped and economically threatened.
In addition the prior slaughter of thousands of French inhabitants of Haiti ( only a handful of women were spared to be concubines ) by black revolutionists terrified Jefferson Davis and other slave owners.
Who sincerely believed that key Northern abolitionists would turn a blind to such a widespread massacre occuring in the South.
And there were proposals for compensating slave owners. They did it in DC at $300 per freed slave. There was a real entrenchment of the slave trade in the South, not just for labor but the actual buying and selling of slaves. Once the major empires started to abolish and/or restrain the slave trade within their colonies, the domestic slave trade grew exponentially. Probably why the proposals floated weren't enough.
Only said 'prior'.
And ALL southern slave owners were very aware what happened to the French in Haiti.
It makes gruesome reading.
Probably why many current authors choose to ignore the event.
Because that's how most of the empires abolished slavery and peacefully transitioned out of it, including the British and Spanish. The world at that time did not have our modern sense of human rights or equality. As if to drive home the point, many of the agreements not only paid the slave owner but required the slave to work for a period of time after payment as part of the deal.One-Eyed Wheeler said:
Why would anyone suggest compensating slave owners for their slaves? That's the stupidest logic I have heard yet.
T-Lo carried it on a little longer in Saint Domingue.historian said:
The "Reign of Terror" is called that for a reason. And it only lasted a year.
historian said:
Slave rebellions tend to be very brutal, as are their suppression.
Actually, it makes considering what is at stake for all involved.
One-Eyed Wheeler said:Completely untrue. I continually roll my eyes at those of you that keep insisting slavery wasn't the issue.Redbrickbear said:
Obviously the South saw slavery as the basis of its economic system.
Lincoln and the Republican Party did as well….and had no objection to its continued existence.
They even offered the Corwin Amendment to make explicit the United States Constitution's protection of slavery.
But slavery was not the cause of the war…secession was the cause of the war.
Lincoln simply would not let the Southern States leave and create a new nation.
He did not care if they held slaves
KaiBear said:historian said:
Slave rebellions tend to be very brutal, as are their suppression.
Actually, it makes considering what is at stake for all involved.
Correct again
Southern slave owners feared any potential slave rebellion.
They did not wish to be massacred by the thousands like the French in Haiti .
Which again contributed to southern fears of political and economic entrapment by the North.
The massacres are rarely discussed these days.
As details of the gruesome mass killings do not fit in our current narratives.
One-Eyed Wheeler said:
Why would anyone suggest compensating slave owners for their slaves? That's the stupidest logic I have heard yet.
A. Would have possibly been less expensive than 4 years of war and 12 years of reconstruction.One-Eyed Wheeler said:
Why would anyone suggest compensating slave owners for their slaves? That's the stupidest logic I have heard yet.
Uh, because the literally did do that in the District of Columbia.One-Eyed Wheeler said:
Why would anyone suggest compensating slave owners for their slaves? That's the stupidest logic I have heard yet.
Link ?Redbrickbear said:Uh because the literally did do in the District of Columbia.One-Eyed Wheeler said:
Why would anyone suggest compensating slave owners for their slaves? That's the stupidest logic I have heard yet.
New Jersey rolled out a compensation scheme for their slave owners.
Britain did it in Jamaica and the Caribbean islands.
And Brazil did it as well on a massive level.
You are kidding right?
After further discussion, Lincoln suggested that the Southern states might "avoid, as far as possible, the evils of immediate emancipation" Lincoln also offered possible compensation for emancipation, naming the figure of $400,000,000 which he later proposed to Congress. Reportedly, Seward disagreed with Lincoln about the price; Lincoln responded that the North had been complicit in the slave trade.]
KaiBear said:Link ?Redbrickbear said:Uh because the literally did do in the District of Columbia.One-Eyed Wheeler said:
Why would anyone suggest compensating slave owners for their slaves? That's the stupidest logic I have heard yet.
New Jersey rolled out a compensation scheme for their slave owners.
Britain did it in Jamaica and the Caribbean islands.
And Brazil did it as well on a massive level.
You are kidding right?
After further discussion, Lincoln suggested that the Southern states might "avoid, as far as possible, the evils of immediate emancipation" Lincoln also offered possible compensation for emancipation, naming the figure of $400,000,000 which he later proposed to Congress. Reportedly, Seward disagreed with Lincoln about the price; Lincoln responded that the North had been complicit in the slave trade.]