“Did most Southerners fight to defend the institution of slavery?”
It’s been estimated that an average of 27% of the Southern population were slaveholders. That means that 73% were not.
Does it seem reasonable that 7 out of 10 Southern men would line up on a field of battle to take a potential life-ending bullet, so their 3 rich neighbors down the street could own slaves?
Think about it.
According to the justly famous British historian ARNOLD TOYNBEE, only about 12% of Americans EVER owned a single slave & the number of slavers in the North & the South in 1860 was about equal.
It is nothing more than a RADICAL REVISIONIST LIE to claim that TWBTS was “all about slavery”, “mostly about slavery” or perhaps that “the flesh trade” was any more than an irritant to a minority of Americans. - In 1860 you could not have found 10,000 people in ALL of the USA who was willing to fight a single minor skirmish to either abolish or preserve chattel slavery, much less fight a major/long/bloody war over “the peculiar institution”.
(It was LONG AFTER Richmond fell that SUDDENLY Northern politicians proclaimed that the war had been “a glorious CRUSADE” against slavery.- During the war no less a person than Lincoln stated repeatedly that “the rebellion” was ONLY about “preserving the union”.)
Not so fun fact: William Lloyd Garrison, the “famous abolitionist” & owner/editor of THE LIBERATOR was himself “a major player” in a company that imported/bought/sold slaves. - When Garrison died on 24APR1879 he was still a major stockholder in that company, which was still “in the flesh trade” in those places that still tolerated slavery.
(HYPOCRITE MUCH??)
Yours, TMN78247
“Did most Southerners fight to defend the institution of slavery?”
If they took an oath to defend the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, that also meant protecting negro slavery in the Confederate States of America.
“so their 3 rich neighbors down the street could own slaves?”
If their rich neighbors down the street owned 20 or more slaves they were exempt from the Confederate Draft.
It’s been estimated that an average of 27% of the Southern population were slaveholders. That means that 73% were not.
Per the 1860 Census Report, that estimate is a bit high.
RECAPITULATION of the Tables of POPULATION, NATIVITY, AND OCCUPATION
| STATE | TOTAL POPULATION | # SLAVEHOLDERS | % SLAVEHOLDERS |
|---|---|---|---|
| AL | 964,201 | 33,730 | 3.50% |
| AR | 435,450 | 11,481 | 2.64% |
| FL | 140,424 | 5,152 | 3.67% |
| GA | 1,057,286 | 41,084 | 3.89% |
| LA | 708,002 | 22,003 | 3.11% |
| MS | 791,305 | 30,943 | 3.91% |
| NC | 992,622 | 34,658 | 3.49% |
| SC | 703,708 | 26,701 | 3.79% |
| TN | 1,109,801 | 36,844 | 3.32% |
| TX | 604,215 | 21,878 | 3.62% |
| VA | 1,596,318 | 52,128 | 3.27% |
| TOTAL: | 9,103,332 | 316,602 | 3.31% |
| STATE | TOTAL POPULATION | # SLAVEHOLDERS | % SLAVEHOLDERS |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE | 112,216 | 587 | 0.52% |
| KY | 1,155,684 | 38,645 | 3.34% |
| MD | 687,049 | 13,783 | 2.01% |
| MO | 1,182,012 | 24,320 | 2.06% |
| TOTAL: | 3,136,961 | 77,335 | 2.47% |
| STATE | TOTAL POPULATION | # SLAVEHOLDERS | % SLAVEHOLDERS |
|---|---|---|---|
| KS | 1,075,684 | 2 | 0.00% |
| NE | 28,841 | 6 | 0.02% |
| TOTAL: | 1,104,525 | 8 | 0.00% |