[DiogenesLamp]

Plus, it’s a lie. Not to say that it wasn’t an act of war, but the war we got was not a war you fight to get back at someone tor shelling a tory. It was a war of conquest, not a war of wrist slapping.

I think it started out as a wrist slapping. It ended up being a war of conquest. Neither side thought the other was in it for the long haul, but they kept pissing each other off, and strengthening their resolve. By the time it had been going for awhile, there was so much bloodshed that it had become personal.

They didn't care what started it, they only cared to beat the other side.

[Tublecane]

“I think it started out as a wrist slapping. It ended up being a war of conquest.”

You are wrong. The North fought from the beginning to force the South back in. They may have thought it would be easy, but nevertheless easy conquest is conquest.

For it to have been a slap on the wrist the North would have fought to be paid back for Sumter with possibly a bit extra for the trouble. Rejoining the u ion would not have played a part. In reality the union was the whole thing and Sumter only used to make the other guys look like they started it. Again, though, the thing the South started was not the war we got. Which was a war of conquest.

[central_va]

Forget "saving the Union" or slavery or any of the 19th century politics, the REAL lesson of the Civil War is this:

ANY STATE OR GROUP OF STATES CAN DISSOLVE THEIR RELATION TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AT ANYTIME AND REFORM THEIR OWN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT ANY WAY(IN ANY FORM) THEY CHOOSE. THE CSA PROVED THIS. IT CAN BE DONE QUICKLY, UNDER DURESS AND AT THE SAME TIME MOBILIZING FOR WAR!

The state is the building block of the republic, NOT the Federal.