Sure...because every other country that had legalized slavery at one time also went through a bloody civil war....and that’s why the US had to also...right?
Oh wait...hmmm...every other Western country managed to get rid of slavery without a civil war except the US.
Do you honestly believe that without the Civil War the South would still have slaves today?
jas3
No. But here is what I do honestly believe:
I believe that the South was just as responsible as the North - probably even more so - for the fact that the issue could never be resolved except by war. The US was trying to abolish slavery for over half a decade, but the southern slaveholders were stubbornly and brutally opposed to even the most basic limits, and in the 1840s & 1850s becoming even more militant & less willing to comprimise.
I believe that had the South succeeded in secession, the resulting 2 countries would have been incredibly weaker that a united US, and that we would never have become what we are today. The Confederacy couldn't even cooperate enough to not lose against the North (they didn't even have to win, they only had to not lose). How would they have fared against the European powers? How would they have fared against an angry Mexico?