[sheltonmac]

The rabid anti-Southerners in this forum will never forsake their first love--centralized government. To believe that America would have fallen apart had the South been allowed to peacefully secede is to believe that the only thing holding the nation together was a strong, central government. Looking at the state of the U.S. today, I can't see how anyone can argue that we would be worse off had the South won.

[SCDogPapa]

"Looking at the state of the U.S. today, I can't see how anyone can argue that we would be worse off had the South won."

Neither can I. Of course, there are a lot of FR's that will want to dispute that. If the South had won, at least we would still have the Constitution, as left us by our Founders. Not the twisted pro big government version we have today.

[jdege]

Like I've said in this thread - I really don't care for what the Civil War did to the power of the Federal government. It began a process that I find little agreement with, to include Congress' delegation of its responsibility to the executive - not only in declarations of war, but in the entire corpus of federal regulation.

But be that as it may, the war began because the South insisted on being allowed to extend slavery as they saw fit.

There were no other first-order causes.

[familyofman]

"The rabid anti-Southerners in this forum "

I wouldn't call them rabid anti-anything, except the attempts to rewrite history by the rabid anti-Lincoln & anti-Union members here.