Posted on 06/13/2020 12:25:07 PM PDT by robowombat
“There was very little that Lincoln or the Republicans could actually do to interfere with their economic system.”
That is true. But did the Southerners believe that, did they really believe that Lincoln and the Republican administration would strictly follow the Constitution, Dred Scott Decision and their own rhetoric. Or did they view Republicans as lying rats, intent on destroying slavery, elevating the black man to equality with whites, misogamy, etc.
People act on what they believe to be true, where it true or not.
You make a good case.
I make this point over and over and over, but some people are not cognizant of it.
But here we have real practical consequences to their benefit for secession, versus imagined theoretical crises if they remained.
As i've said the Northern powerful men were not fools, so too do I believe the Southern powerful men were not fools either. While the common folk may be misled by slogans and nonsense, those people who are wealthy and understand money and how to make it, are not going to be stampeded into something because there is a hue and cry in favor of it.
I think the money men of the South were just as calculating as the money men of the North. They saw a huge windfall from getting away from Washington DC control, and for this reason I think they promoted and supported any idea which they saw as making this windfall happen.
I doubt they were stupid enough to buy the hype about Lincoln causing them problems over slavery, but they were more than happy to get the hoi polloi thinking this way.
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