“the south should have freed the slaves and THEN fired on Ft. Sumter.”
The same with Brown v Board of Education. Integrate and watch the North remain segregated. Wait that’s what happened except in the minds of those in Boston to Buffalo. It wouldn’t have mattered. They still like to make fun of Southern accents, even when they’re from Boston or Brooklyn.
But they didn't. While Topeka had integrated even before the court decision was handed down, at least one of the Southern counties involved in the decision disbanded their public school system rather than integrate. And yet another opportunity to grab the moral high ground was lost.