[PerConPat]

And yet slavery was abolished via peaceful means everywhere else in the Western World during the 19th century.

And it should've been done here, in the US. But it wasn't...Discussions as to whether or not it could've been done are, IMO, hypothetical and a waste of time. Otherwise, it's been an interesting discussion.

[FLT-bird]

And it should've been done here, in the US. But it wasn't...Discussions as to whether or not it could've been done are, IMO, hypothetical and a waste of time. Otherwise, it's been an interesting discussion.

Of course it "COULD" have been done here just as it WAS done everywhere else in the West. The key to understanding why it was not done here lies in seeing who was opposed to it - again, it was not Southerners who opposed it. Take a look at who did.