We were concerned that the secessionist slaveowners who had started the war would return to power in the South. Giving the vote to the freed slaves was seen as a way to prevent that. As it happened, the vote was taken away, and with it, many other rights.
Sometimes, cynicism can be very close to naivete. I don’t think you have a greater insight into how people thought 150 years ago than the people at the time did. Also, your hijacking threads and turning them into civil war arguments may be irritating some people.
They didn't start the war, Lincoln did with Major Anderson's help. And the Southern states seceded because they didn't have a big enough vote in the congress to stop legislation that was unfair to them from being passed.
Giving the vote to the freed slaves was seen as a way to prevent that.
You mean they couldn't keep the army occupying the place forever, denying people the right to vote? Maybe the problem is they didn't want people to express free will and they just wanted them to shut up and do what Washington DC orders them to do?
Modern liberals want us all to shut up and just let Washington keep taxing us and spending the money on everything but what is best for us. They shouldn't have that right today, and they should not have had that right in 1865.
Sometimes, cynicism can be very close to naivete. I don’t think you have a greater insight into how people thought 150 years ago than the people at the time did.
I have something much closer to a God's eye view of what happened, because I have information that they may never have known about. I can see the larger picture than they could have done while they were so much closer to the action. I have hindsight.
Also, your hijacking threads and turning them into civil war arguments may be irritating some people.
I think it irritated BroJoeK. My thinking is that after the initial few days, few people regularly return to a thread, and so the majority never realizes the topic has been steered in another direction, and therefore most don't care.
For me, I see connections between so many different issues, and when I interject a connection I see into a thread, it's just a variation on the initial topic.
My post in message 12 showed the similarity between what is happening now, and what was happening in the 1860s, and that it was for exactly the same reason. To keep liberals in power.