Iirc Menken was, like Roger Taney, a Marylander, which may help explain why he so quickly dismisses the self-determination of four million slaves.
But more to your point, saying it was "all about" Southern self-determination is like claiming WWII was all about, say, Japanese self-determination.
Indeed, the Japanese threat to the U.S. homeland was orders of magnitude less than Confederates.
Consider this: "self-determination" also applied to Western Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, Northern Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Maryland, Pennsylvania and several other states which were, ahem, visited by Confederate armies.
bfl
“But more to your point, saying it was “all about” Southern self-determination”
Who said that? Surely you’re not deliberately misquoting me.
“is like claiming WWII was all about, say, Japanese self-determination.”
A truly ridiculous assertion.
“Indeed, the Japanese threat to the U.S. homeland was orders of magnitude less than Confederates.”
The intent of the Confederacy was to secede: that is, to withdraw from the United States, as was their right. Lincoln refused to allow that, which was the casus belli.
Japan, on the other hand, was engaged in a bloody war of conquest. There is no comparison, and I’m frankly disappointed to see that argument advanced on Free Republic.
“Consider this: “self-determination” also applied to Western Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, Northern Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Maryland, Pennsylvania and several other states which were, ahem, visited by Confederate armies.”
States? Lots of errors in that paragraph. Oklahoma and New Mexico were not states during the civil war. The southern states *voted* to secede. Thus, western Virginia and other regions of those states were not denied participation in democracy: they just lost the vote.
Before you start “ahemming” about Confederate armies, you might reflect that William Tecumseh Sherman would be tried for war crimes and hanged if he did today what he did during Lincoln’s war.