[Non-Sequitur]

Subsequent to the war, the "Carpetbaggers" from the north descended on a defeated south and were among the first to "simplify" this slavery fiction as being easy to understand justification for their economic plunder of the south.

I'm sorry but I think you have it backwards. Subsequent to the war the southern leaders were anxious to downplay defense of slavery as their reson for rebellion. Prior to the war and during it they were loud in their insistance that secession was the only possible method for defending slavery. For every reference to a tariff, there are dozens that reference slavery.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Prior to the war and during it they were loud in their insistance that secession was the only possible method for defending slavery.

Yeah, that was because all the blood to be spilled could easily be wiped up with one hankerchief.

Walt

[rmvh]

Re your # 265 I'm sorry but I think you have it backwards. Subsequent to the war the southern leaders were anxious to downplay defense of slavery as their reson for rebellion. .........Source please.

"Carpetbaggers", epithet used in the South after the Civil War to describe Northerners who went to the South during Reconstruction to make money (source either google sources...just type it in...or the encylopedia).