[ForGod'sSake]

The answer to number one would be how many years would it take before the South would no longer be willing to secede to defend their institution.

I have a letter on my hard drive I don't want to take the time right now to dig out BUT, were you aware the Confederacy approached France to ally with them against the North? Not necessarily news but what is news is the South had agreed to abolish the institution of slavery IF France would join them in defeating an overbearing feral government? The South wanted out from under the thumb of the dictators in the North at ANY cost; including abolishing the "curious institution". Question is, was slavery just a focal point and not the KEY to the real problems the South had with the North, which had been casually $H!TT!NG on the South?

BTW, I'll try to find the document I mentioned in a day or two and post the relevant parts. I only returned to this thread responding to a ping from central_va with something I think may shed some lignt and don't intend to get caught up in the debate. It usually goes nowhere.

[Drennan Whyte]

I have a letter on my hard drive I don't want to take the time right now to dig out BUT, were you aware the Confederacy approached France to ally with them against the North?

The Confederacy approached both France and Britain. The French were willing but would not make a move without the British. The British wouldn't recognize the Confederacy without substantial proof that they were going to win. That faded when the Union won at Antietam, and died completely when Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation.

Not necessarily news but what is news is the South had agreed to abolish the institution of slavery IF France would join them in defeating an overbearing feral government?

Where did Jefferson Davis get the authority to end slavery in the Confederate States? I've read the Confederate Constitution and nowhere do I find such powers vested in the Chief Executive or the Confederate Congress. So Davis was obviously promising something that he had no authority to grant. In effect, he was lying through his teeth.

Question is, was slavery just a focal point and not the KEY to the real problems the South had with the North...

A careful reading of the speeches and writings of Southern leaders prior to secession and early in the wary makes it clear that slavery was THE reason for secession. Hollow promises made 4 years later don't change that.