"You're right -- you can smell them from here!"
Could you explain what is meant by 'way of life' aside from slavery, or why it was that the Confederate states felt that the election of Abraham Lincoln would endanger that 'way of life'? And, no, "the ideal that the right to secede from the Union is an unenumerated right for purposes of the Tenth Amendment" is not a 'way of life'.
It is absurd to say that Southern states seceded in order to protect the right to secede, especially since the election of 1860 wasn't fought over the question of whether secession was legitimate. What then? Did the Republican victory in 1860 threaten the religious practices of the Southerners? Or the right to speak their accustomed language? Why did they secede, if not to protect the institution of slavery?
I had ancestors that fought on the side of the confederacy. None of my ancestors ever participated in any slave ownership, nor would they have joined the fight to protect slavery. They fought to oppose a tyrannical federal government. This was the endangerment to their way of life. They lost the war, and the federalism that they opposed is now imposed on all of us.
the WBTS was fought for just ONE main reason. the southland wanted her FREEDOM from the arrogant, self-righteous, ignorant, self-serving,hateFILLED,intrusive damnyankees.
the lust for FREEDOM was no different in 1861 than it was in 1776 OR 2004. (we southrons STILL want/deserve our LIBERTY!)
chattal slavery was at MOST a side issue, since only 5-6% of southerners EVER owned even one slave AND about the same percentage of yankees owned slaves as southerners. (i hasten to add that for the FEW percent of persons who WERE slaveowners, no matter where they resided, the continuation of slavery was VERY important!)
saying that slavery was any more than a SIDE ISSUE is mindless,cynical, stupid and/or a FRAUD, which is designed to deceive the ignorant.
free dixie,sw
It's also very interesting that the Emacipation Proclamation only freed slaves in the Confederate States. Slavery was a political tool used by the north rather than an actual cause or reason for the war. It is the simpletons who today further this arguement. They are gripped for some reason with a feeling of guilt and have become prisoners of political correctness on the issue.
If that were so, then why didn't Abe St. Lincoln's Thirteenth Amendment not avoid 600,000 fatalities?
Buy a book, read up on it, and eat your toast.
Why would they need to protect the institution of slavery? It was essentially recognized in the U. S. Constitution.
I think a good argument can be made that the original seven did secede to protect slavery. I don’t think that the same argument can be made for the other four.