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I do not think that your label “point of view” is accurate. You deny your education is the issue.

Let’s test that notion.

Here for your curiosity, interest, and perhaps a little fun:

Antebellum America Historical Literacy Test

1. Just before the Revolutionary War began, the city of Charleston, SC had the greatest population of slaves in the colonies.. The city that had the next largest population of slaves was:

a. Mobile

b. New Orleans

c. New York

2. The first building at this University was built with slave labor:

a. College of Charleston

b. Brown University

c. William and Mary

3. South Carolina voted to end the importation of slaves into the state in:

a. 1787

b. 1861

c. 1866

4. In 1858 this was said, “There is a physical difference between whites and blacks that prohibits social and political equality.” Who said it?

a. Jefferson Davis

b. Robert E. Lee

c. Abraham Lincoln

5. Prior to the war, the state that transported more slaves than any other state was

a. South Carolina

b. Maryland

c. Rhode Island

6. The flag of the Confederacy flew over slaves ships:

a. In the Caribbean

b. Throughout the Eastern seaboard

c. Nowhere

7. In January of 1861, upon hearing the news that several Southern states had seceded from the Union, the Mayor of this town suggested that they also secede;

a. New York

b. Dallas

c. Nashville

8. In April of 1861, just hours before Confederate artillery began to fire on Fort Sumter, the Confederate Government, and the citizens of Charleston knew that United States Naval Warships were:

a. Waiting in New York harbor

b. Steaming for Charleston harbor

c. Lying outside and firing on a ship entering Charleston Harbor.

9. Before Lincoln had ordered the United States Navy to Charleston, he had been advised by most in his cabinet and key politicians from Virginia to not send warships. When pressed why he was doing so, he said to one:

a. “What would happen to the Negroes?”

b. “The Europeans will invade us”.

c. “What would become of my tariff?”

10. At the time that Abraham Lincoln first took office in 1861, he stated in his first inaugural speech that he supported an Amendment to the United States Constitution that

a. Would make slavery illegal in all the states

b. Would make slavery legal in all the states

c. Would free all slaves

11. In 1861, the United States Congress stated that the War Between the States

a. Was being waged to end slavery

b. Was not being waged to end slavery

c. Was being waged to ensure equality

12. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in

a. The South

b. The North

c. All the states Try this from memory. If you do not know the answer outright, then guess. But mark down that answer as a guess. That will be interesting information.

Re: question 2. Be fair now, Pea. How can you be sure the answer isn't "All of the above"?

Re: question 3. What you neglect to mention, Pea, was that it wasn't a ban on slave imports but only a two year suspension. Or that the most vocal supporters of the slave trade at the Constitutional convention was Charles Pinkney.

Re: question 6. Not entirely true. There is evidence that some slaves were brought in from Cuba on blockade runners. And an article in a recent edition of North & South magazine dealing with confederate privateers detailed two instances where black crewmen on Northern ships that were captured were left onboard when the ships were sent back to the confederacy, the intent being to sell them into slavery upon arrival. The only reason those two instances are mentioned is that in both cases the black crewman overpowered the prize crew and rescued the ship. It's probable that there were other cases where the ship did make it to the confederacy and the crewmen were sold.

Re: question 7. You should also mention that Mayor Fernando Wood's suggestion was so popular he was promptly voted out of office in the next election.

Re: question 9. Be fair, Pea. That statment, possibly apocryphal, has been attributed to Lincoln by different sources but none of them that I'm aware of indicate he said it to his cabinet.