[stand watie]

in point of FACT, the continuation/extension of chattel slavery was VERY important to the 5-6% of the southerners/northerners who OWNED slaves.

it was of LITTLE import/interest to ANY NON-owner.

no matter how much you wish it was different, that is the TRUTH.

free dixie,sw

[capitan_refugio]

"in point of FACT, the continuation/extension of chattel slavery was VERY important to the 5-6% of the southerners/northerners who OWNED slaves.
it was of LITTLE import/interest to ANY NON-owner.
no matter how much you wish it was different, that is the TRUTH.

Although your "5-6%" slaveowners figure actually equates to 25-30% of the free population being part of slave-owning families, and thus having a vested interest in the institution, your post misses the main point.

The southern antebellum governments were fundamentally slaveowner oligarchies. They were run by slaveowners in behalf of the slaveowner interests. Those who, for decades, had agitated for secession were part of the slaveowning leadership. They were the empowered political elite of the slaveowning south who established the laws and policies, and owned the newspapers. You are quite correct to observe that most "southerners" at the time had little interest in slavery (which, by the way, implicitly disqualifies the 4 million slaves themselves as an interested party). But it wasn't the great mass of small farmers and tradesmen who led the secessionist insurrection - it was the slaveowner oligarchy.

And that is the real truth.