"The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution African slavery as it exists amongst us the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution." - Alexander Stephens
That's from March 1861. Before the rebellion began.
That’s from March 1861. Before the rebellion began.
Clearly before the Civil War.
“If slavery, as a national evil, is to be abolished, and it be just that it be done at the national expense, the amount of the expense is not a paramount consideration.” James Madison 1816 -1828
Again clearly before the Civil War.
The real difference of interests, lay not between large and small, but between the Northern and Southern states. The institution of slavery and its consequences formed a line of discrimination. James Madison 1817
Once more before the Civil War. Yeah I can pull quotes all day long to support my argument.
The Bleeding Kansas incident was between 1855 and 1859.
In 1859 John Brown rented the Kennedy farmhouse, four
miles north of Harper’s Ferry, to train 21 men.
On October 16, 1859 John Brown and 21 men raided Harper’s Ferry. The first man killed during the raid was Hayward Shepherd, a free black man working with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
On December 20, 1860, the state of South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.
The Lincoln Inauguration was March 4, 1861.
Shots were fired on Ft. Sumter April 14, 1861.
The rebellion was already in full swing by March 1861.
And then there were some notable slave rebellions,
1811 German Coast Uprising
1831 Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion
1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation
I have never took the stance that freeing the slaves was wrong, so get that out of your head right now.