[wardaddy]

The zeal shared by Stevens, Sumner, Seward, Stanton and a handful of others was not by any stretch shared by many northern politicians of either party nor the Whigs before them.

And don't think those highbred WASPY northeasterners were any less gentrified than Southern plantocracy folks.

They desired to punish the South beyond an appetite most Americans had for such actions and that is why they ultimately failed and are only viewed positively by revisionist...even today by Northern scholars. I see a handful of race oriented folks on this forum who worship Thasddeus but that's about it.

Now...granted....Southern military leadership deserved better political management.

I'm not familiar with Southern paleocons over protectionism. They virtually offered blowjobs around here for the Nissan headquarters.

Southern paleocons down here are though very right wing on culture issues as you well know.

I often wonder why the radicals refused to discuss compensation to end slavery. The Brits and Dutch and others did....even the governments of Spain and Portugal offered some to smooth it along.

The Radicals wanted no part of that. They wanted war sure as the firebreathers did. And they both got it. Damned shame to me. Could have been avoided had cooler heads prevailed

[Clemenza]

Count me in as one of those who believe the Civil War was a national TRAGEDY, NOT a "second war for independence" or a "war to free the slaves" that should be put on a pedestal. If cooler heads had prevailed (ie if Henry Clay had a better personal touch) then slavery would have been gradually abolished through compromise by the 1870s. Unfortunatly, the "S" word (first employed by New Englanders who wanted to leave the union at the beginning of the century) became acceptable in political parlance and personal rivalries overlapped with differences in regional goals.

In short the war should have NEVER HAPPENNED and it is sad and tragic that tens of thousands of young men, some of whom were shooting at their brothers, nephews and cousins, had to die, to say nothing of the horribly disfigured veterans who would dominate skid rows for decades after the war.

I forget to address Sumner. In terms of attitude, Sumner was essentially John Kerry with a high IQ (Sumnner at least not being a global socialist). He was an arrogant blowhard and mediocre Senator, who made the mistake of personally insulting another hothead across the aisles family. Can't say I blame Pres for coming into the Senate to defend his brother's honor, with a club.

Interestingly enough, Charles Sumner was a close friend of the Adams family, functioning as an "uncle" to Henry Adams. Henry Adams, who was known to believe that the Confederacy was in the right on the secession question, always referred to Uncle Charles as a kind and sensitive man. Nevertheless, his public persona was that of high intellect and arrogance in spades.