Also, slavery was only part of the reason for the Civil War. It mostly had to do with the South believing that the federal government was overreaching its constitutional authority and also the north was using its superior number in Congress to force unpopular taxes and legislation on the south.
Sound familiar?
“...the federal government was overreaching its constitutional authority and also the north was using its superior number in Congress to force unpopular taxes and legislation on the south.
“Sound familiar?”
Sounds like MD now. Another threat of secession by the Eastern Shore a few weeks ago, to add to others quite recent.
It wasn't only Southerners who thought the Federal government was overreaching. The Fugitive Slave Act and the Dred Scott decision are both good examples of how the South used Federal law to their advantage, over the objections of Northen States. The political lines were also less rigidly geographical in the decade leading up to the Civil War, with pro-banking Whigs generally pitted against anti-banking Democrats and various factions filling in the gaps.