Quote:
Originally Posted by SydneyK
While I agree that slavery was a major factor (if not the major factor) in the war, let's not ignore the reason the North wanted to abolish slavery. It wasn't because they were more moral than the South or felt like slavery was a bad thing - it's because they were afraid that white people wouldn't be able to land paying jobs if they were competing against slave labor.
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Of course, there certainly were abolitionists for whom it was moral issue.
All of which points up something I think has to be remembered: When it comes to something like the Civil War, there are no simple explanations. 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.
It's not necessarily glossing over uncomfortable history or trying to put a positive spin on things to debate what the Civil War was really about. It can just be taking a realistic view of a complex thing.
And its part of the reason that symbols from that war can mean different things to different people.
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