“Well, my family, two branches, started shooting. I don’t recommend that approach, but given the time and circumstances I likely would have been right there with them.”
Killing people you don’t agree with on moral issues may be moral. I’m not sure that’s what Jesus taught but, for the purpose of this thread, let’s suppose Jesus did tell northerners to kill slave owners (in the South, not the border states).
Just realize that when your folks took up arms to “free the slaves” they were fighting to overthrow the pro-slavery provisions of the United States constitution. In fact, they were fighting to violently overthrow the United States constitution.
And if, as some believe, southerners were fighting for the pro-slavery provisions in the constitution, they were fighting to prevent the U.S. constitution’s violent overthrow. But by then, the South had left the union - and took the constitution with them.
There are Constitutional amendments that benefited slavery.
The Constitution protects property rights. Slaves were property according to the laws of many states. Slavery was not a nation-wide Constitutional provision.
Your phrase “pro-slavery provisions” is not accurate.
I agree, Jesus would not have favored the killing in the civil war, or the oppression of slaves.
Yes, my family took up arms after Fort Sumter was attacked. They fought to force changes to the Constitution, not to overthrow it.
My family was on the winning side that forced the end of slavery, by force of arms when it wasn’t being ended by political means.
Christ's only reprimand to the Roman soldiers was not to abuse their authority through bribery.
The Left successfully has transformed all killing in wartime into “murder”...
However, “Thou shalt not murder” is one of the Ten Commandments, is distinguished from killing.
Murder is one of the commandments because it is always a personal hatred in the heart towards another human being.
Killing another on a battlefield is not murder, unless you happened to be a Confederate who personally knew and had an animus towards a Union soldier (or vice versa). Or unless you were King David who was guilty of the murder of Bathsheba’s husband who died in battle... in that case David purposely put her husband on the front lines in order to get him killed. And so David was guilty of murder.
You have an interesting argument about the South upholding the Constitution; but unfortunately the moral sin of slavery outweighed the law allowing it, and the sinful stain of it caused the South to make all the wrong moves, including firing the first shots of the war and seceding.
P.S. I had family on both sides, including some named after Robert E Lee.
Why is it that you never capitalize the first letter in “Constitution”? Do you override your spell checker to do that?
Obviously, jeffersondem enjoys his own bizarre sense of humor.
jeffersondem: "Just realize that when your folks took up arms to 'free the slaves' they were fighting to overthrow the pro-slavery provisions of the United States constitution. "
So our Lost Causers often claim, but the truth is quite different.
In fact, "pro-slavery provisions" remained in effect, in Union states until, for the most part, those states themselves legally abolished slavery.
Yes, those "pro-slavery provisions" were indeed overthrown in the Confederacy, but not by the Union so much as by Confederates themselves in declaring themselves a different country!
In what Universe is the United States obliged to enforce its own laws in someone else's country, especially one which provoked, started, declared & waged war on the USA.
Wouldn't the first requirement always be to defeat such an enemy, then straighten out the legal issues?
jeffersondem: "And if, as some believe, southerners were fighting for the pro-slavery provisions in the constitution, they were fighting to prevent the U.S. constitution’s violent overthrow.
But by then, the South had left the union - and took the constitution with them."
Only in your own wet dreams!
In fact the Confederate constitution contained some significant differences from the original, principally in expressly protecting slavery more thoroughly that our Founders intended.