[cartoonistx]

"...the WBTS was NOT ever about slavery."

Now that's just silly! Sure, the average Confederate soldier fought for his beloved South and the principles of state soverienty, but, at bottom, it was the right to keep and hold slaves that the propigators of the cecsession believed was their "own informed self-interest"! Why do you insist finding justification for believing in southern righteousness without addressing whether the 19th century southerners were indeed just?

As for Abe's opinion of black folks, well, he too was a creature of his times and harbored the same doubts as many back then re the negroe's ability to succeed in the "civilized" world. 145 years later we judge him a bigot and a racist?

[stand watie]

NOPE. it is NOT silly.

ONLY the 5-6 % of slave-OWNERS (about the same percent of northerners owned slaves as did southerners) cared enough about slavery to fight a skirmish over it, much less a war. over 90% of southern soldiers/sailors/marines had GROSS ASSETS in 1860 of 25.oo USD or less. they owned no slaves & couldn't have afforded a slave IF they had wanted to buy one.

furthermore, the common soldier of the CSA was "no friend" of the "planter aristocracy" (had the south won, the planters might well have been NEXT on the list of dixie's enemies!)and would NOT have "lifted a finger" to protect some rich aristocrat's "right to trade in human misery". they certainly would not have volunteered to bleed/die for that "right".

the VAST majority of the southern population simply wanted FREEDOM from a government that they believed was acting AGAINST their interests . it was really NO more complicated than that. (fyi, my family were poor farmers. the "Big House" was a distant socially/financially/educationally from our family 160-acre farm as the MOON!)

free dixie,sw