[dagogo redux]

[Disclaimer: My use, below, of the words “meme” and “multifactorial” should in no way suggest that I might be a pointy-headed liberal.]

As a proud Southerner boy, both by heritage and inclination, I had long bought the “states’ rights” meme. In recent years I have looked into the matter quite a bit more deeply for myself, and I have to say that, while the underpinnings of the conflict were multifactorial, the prime cause was slavery. I must also say that this shift in understanding in no way diminishes my hatred of the North or of Lincoln for the conduct and aftermath of the war.

This will be my sole contribution to the Afternoon Delight that now stretches out luxuriously before us.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

As a strong partisan of freedom, I believe that the Southern states clearly had the right to break away from the Union, and in fact had a duty to do so if they did not believe they could continue to exist within it.

Likewise, I believe the slaves had a right and a duty to overthrow their "masters", by violence if necessary.