The Confederate Flag

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by Cen1aur 1963

The mere idea of bringing in free labor to replace workers that are paid would have been as destructive to the nation as the succession of the South was.

The idea wasn't about replacing Northern wage labor with slave labor - it was to prevent the recently acquired territories from using slave labor instead of wage labor. The goal was keeping whites in paid jobs; a goal which would've been hard to attain had the territories been allowed to practice slavery.

ETA: I am far from an expert on this. I'm just recalling information that was presented to me (in southern schools, I should add). The moral issue was not cut and dried based on the Mason-Dixon line. There were plenty of northerners who wanted to abolish slavery for non-moral reasons, just as there were plenty of southerners who wanted to abolish slavery for moral reasons.

[Cen1aur 1963]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

The idea wasn't about replacing Northern wage labor with slave labor - it was to prevent the recently acquired territories from using slave labor instead of wage labor. The goal was keeping whites in paid jobs; a goal which would've been hard to attain had the territories been allowed to practice slavery.

In part I agree with you, but my point is still valid. There are a number of factors in place here. Your answer is just too simplistic. The economic question had to be considered, but I think the moral issue was a more pertinent factor than the territories.

[Cen1aur 1963]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

The moral issue was not cut and dried based on the Mason-Dixon line. .

I never said that the moral issue was based on that line. I'm saying that the moral issue was a greater factor in wanting to abolish slavery than the economic issue.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Of course, there certainly were abolitionists for whom it was moral issue.

True, which is why I included the ETA:

Originally Posted by SydneyK

There were plenty of northerners who wanted to abolish slavery for non-moral reasons, just as there were plenty of southerners who wanted to abolish slavery for moral reasons.

I should have clarified that the opposite of each is also true.

Originally Posted by MysticCat

There certainly are major factors such as slavery, which as you say may be the predominant factor. But it's a mistake to reduce it to "The Civil War was about x," even if that x is a major factor There were lots of inter-related things going on -- racial factors, class factors, economic factors, religious factors, philosophical factors, governmental factors . . . . The reason one person supported one side or the other may have been quite different from his neighbors reasons.

Absolutely. I never meant to suggest the Civil War was about only slavery. In fact, had I not already been quoted as saying "(if not the major factor)" I would've deleted that just to avoid being thought of as thinking the war was only about slavery. I think that the other factors you listed (racial, class, economic, religious, philosophical, governmental) all have either direct or indirect connections to slavery, but I don't maintain that the Civil War was The War on Slavery.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

Absolutely. I never meant to suggest the Civil War was about only slavery.

I know. I was trying to build on what you said, not disagree with it.