I don’t know and neither do you. However, consider a few things:
1. Slavery was integral to the economy of the South during the antebellum years. Ending slavery meant impovershing the south, at least until other economic bases were developed. Would southern plantation owners really have voluntarily turned themselves into paupers by freeing their slaves?
2. While the Constitution is ambiguous on the matter of slavery (probably due to the Founders’ desire to not allow the issue to derail the ratification), the southern plantation owners saw the Constitution as an implicit endorsement of the practice of slavery. Would you be willing to give up your guns, for instance, if people in other parts of the country deem that gun ownership is immoral? A similar question faced the plantation owners with regard to slavery. I suspect that most posters on here would not give up their guns based on the moral outrage of others, and similarly, slave owners would not voluntarily free their slaves based on the moral outrage of abolitionists.
3. The South was, culturally and economically, very much a separate nation from the North during the antebellum years. The North had an industrial economy based on wage-earning workers, rather than an agricultural one based on slave labor. The Civil War was really an attempt to turn this cultural and economic reality into a political one as well. Given this, would it really make sense to think that slave owners would voluntarily free slaves based on Northern opinion? Keep in mind, the Civil War may have given LEGAL freedom to the slaves, but the culture of slavery persisted in the South.
Cultures and economies do change, so it may be true that slavery could have been ended without warfare. However, I was responding to a poster who questioned whether any of the series of wars we’ve fought has accomplished anything. I’m sure a slave in 1865 who found himself free following the war would have no problem seeing what the Civil War accomplished. I also see very little evidence that, absent war, slavery would have been ended in 1865, or for quite some time thereafter. Therefore, I stand by the assertion that the Civil War was a successful one insofar as it accomplished the goal of freeing the slaves.
No... we don't. But, we DO know slavery was ALREADY abolished in much of Europe. It was an issue being championed by the Church, everywhere. I think it's almost unfathomable to think it would NEVER have been abolished in the Southern United States. Not because of pressure from the North. It would be because of pressure from religious institutions IN THE SOUTH, and commercial pressure from their customers in Europe.
Would southern plantation owners really have voluntarily turned themselves into paupers by freeing their slaves?
They would have hardly become paupers if they freed their slave and started paying them a pittance wage to harvest crops. They would eventually have been FORCED to do this, in order to sell their product. They would have fared much better this way than by having Sherman burn all their houses.
The South was, culturally and economically, very much a separate nation from the North during the antebellum years.
The South is STILL, culturally and economically, very much a separate nation from the North. I would actually prefer that we WERE a separate nation.... and, we may be yet before all is said and done.
I was responding to a poster who questioned whether any of the series of wars we’ve fought has accomplished anything.
I 100% agree with your point. Sadly, wars are often necessary to achieve desirable outcomes. Defeating evil is a cause worth fighting for. I guess, I just don't agree that the Civil War is a great example of a war that was WORTH the cost. Benefits were gained, for the black slaves in the South. But, the cost were VERY high.. and, I think... still on-going.
You do know, I assume... that even Brazil had banned slavery by 1884. Twenty years AFTER the Civil War... and, yes, I'm sure the US Civil War had SOME affect on them. But, I can't believe it was THAT much.
To give credit where it is due, it was Ron Paul who first got me to start "re-thinking" what I'd been taught about the Civil War. It took me awhile, but... I've come to agree with him. It was tragedy that should NOT have happened. We all would have survived, even thrived... without it.