Posted on 02/10/2004 6:16:00 AM PST by stainlessbanner
free dixie NOW,sw
We just discussed on the other thread the business of making McPherson's and Foner's "It Was All About Slavery" argument. This is "It Was All About Slavery" Lite.
The point of the argument is to level a moral inculpation at modern Southerners (and split the conservative bloc) by bracketing them with the Confederates, having engaged in a few rounds of facile reductionist argument that the Confederates were just a bunch of Legrees who were "all about slavery". It's not history when Foner and McPherson do this, it's left-wing, Hobbesian, statist, and vanguardist polemic against Jeffersonianism.
Furthermore, when the argument is couched in those terms, it isn't even an argument, since it's really an extended and elaborate form of ad hominem argument, combined with bracketing and guilt by association. All of which are fallacious -- but they work, so propagandists use them.
thank the "publick screwls edumakashhun" for that.
free dixie,sw
as the Mercury was a mouthpiece for the plantation aristocracy, i'm NOT surprised at their editorial policy. the Mercury was then , in their own way, as UN-biased as the "NY SLIMES" is today.
free dixie,sw
btw, welcome to the WBTS threads. sit down, read,converse & learn. there's a BUNCH of smart people who hang out over here.
free dixie,sw
I am familiar with neither argument. I have always maintained that the original Northern motivation was, as Lincoln stated, to preserve the Union. Although abolition was a constant Republican undercurrent, Lincoln initially realized the political realities of maintaining within the Union the important border "slave" states.
For the South, it can not be denied that the preservation of the institution of slavery was one of the most important, if not the most important, factor in their motivation for unilateral secession.
Southern motivations in the ante-bellum period should have no bearing on political considerations today. The key to preserving conservative-valued control of the government is the South, Midwest & West alliance. Although you may not believe it, even on the West Coast (California, Oregon, and Washington), the liberals only maintain political control in the few populous urban centers (refer back to the 2000 election "County" map), or even the results of the 2003 California recall election. San Francisco and Los Angeles are increasingly marginalized.
The best way to avoid sharing Southern blame for the ACW is to renounce the principles upon which the insurrection was based and to cease glorifying those who led the insurrection. It is not enough to condemn the practice, while praising the practitioners.
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