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Amongst the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20-8, are the words:

Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day ... No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or by your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you ...

Add that to the 10th amendment, and ... you have the South's case.

It is ridiculous to quote Exodus to "explain" what you think is the South's view on slavery. As a great-grand-daughter, -neice, -cousin, of Confederate soldiers, it is from their stories passed down to my grandparents which tell the truth.

My ancestors were not anything more than property owners. They lived by the land and believed in little more than God and homeland. All of my southern friends and relatives will profess the same sentiments, "our relatives never owned slaves, they were too poor,". But did they fight for their land? Yes, they did.

Whether or not they believed in the right of one man to own another is not clear because they did not own slaves. However, they saw the act of the Union to 'invade' their land as an act of aggression. In their limited view, they were acting on behalf of the protection of their home and family. It was chilvalry, more than love of their state which led them to enlist and defend their home.

Machismo was also a passionate reason to fight and defeat the Union. There are so many things which play into the reason why Southerners fought in the Confederacy. It was Lincoln who had to create a moral reason for the war. The Union was no more against slavery than the average poor white Southerner.

It would have been better for everyone if Jefferson had kept his scribbled out decree in the constitution to end slavery. Slavery had already ended in parts of the world but continued well after the Civil War in others. There is no "Southerner" alive today that does not agree that slavery was/is wrong and damaged our country beyond repair even to this day.