(11-07-2018, 09:57 AM)The Drifter Wrote:

(11-06-2018, 05:46 PM)homebiscuit Wrote: Whether the argument was economic, religious, or ideological, slavery was the underlying element in all of them. The American Civil War was waged over slavery. Plain and simple. Had slavery never existed in the South, the Civil War would not have occurred.

Slavery existed in the North as well, in fact, it took a Constitutional amendment for General U.S. Grant to free his slaves so to say the slavery was the reason for the was, it's dead wrong

When slaves got freed back then, their lives didn't necessarily get better.  They were always at risk of getting kidnapped and sent back South.
So it may have been perfectly consistent for a slave owner to want to abolish slavery but not free his own slaves.  A magnanimous slave owner would view his slaves' welfare as his responsibility, and sending them out, with no patron, into a world that still thought of black people as slaves was not a clearly ethical response.  That said, most slave owners were not magnanimous by any stretch.

My point is that we shouldn't always be in such a rush to look at what people do or did.  We are taught that anyone who doesn't practice what he preaches is a hypocrite, and this is usually true.  But when the "preaching" is about changing a law or a government policy, it's a very childish way to think.  It's usually not possible to "practice" until after the law changes.

Let me say it directly, specifically to you, The Drifter, because this is not the first time I've seen it from you: You think like a child.  Grow up.

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