[agrandis]

Besides, there is NO WAY that the South would surrender to Northern domination, even in 1864, with the pathetic promise to "return runaway slaves." Most of the Southerners had no slaves to have returned.

[Non-Sequitur]

Most of the Southerners had no slaves to have returned.

That's because the Emacipation Proclamation had freed them the year before.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Besides, there is NO WAY that the South would surrender to Northern domination, even in 1864, with the pathetic promise to "return runaway slaves." Most of the Southerners had no slaves to have returned.

Slave ownership devolved on about 1/3 of southerners and on about 50% in SC and MS. But the vast majority of whites supported the war because they were unalterably opposed to negro equality.

The slave --holders-- were able to drive their section into treason and rebellion because of perceived threats to the expansion of slavery -- a direct threat to their financial well-being based on what the federal --government-- MIGHT do in the future. Their real enemy was demographics.

The poor whites -- what Churchill called the "mean whites", were JUST as interesting in opposing what the federal government MIGHT do, because it MIGHT devalue their most important possession -- a white skin.

Walt