[ovrtaxt]

And I've got a free speech right to tell him that the Civil War was about slavery, pure and simple. The so-called "state's rights" is code for the right to own slaves.

Okay. So the first amendment is *really* code for the right to be offensive. To say insulting and unpopular things. To only use your free speech in the most hurtful and destructive way possible, not to ever say anything truthful and edifying. Good logic.< /sarcasm>

You see the trouble starts when you start presuming to know the heart motivation of someone. Slavery was sinful, but it was economically doomed anyway. The South knew this, but they wanted to retain the right to determine the issue (and any other issue not constitutionally mandated to Washington) for themselves.

But the tenth amendment protected much more than slavery from the purview of the central government.Amendment X was a huge barrier to the Federalists among us, and they apparently had no problem with hundreds of thousands of slaughters to get rid of it. It was a power play against the states, more than anything else.

[CobaltBlue]

You see the trouble starts when you start presuming to know the heart motivation of someone.

First, you tell me that I shouldn't presume to understand the motivation of others, and then you explain what the Confederates really thought. Too funny!

[Gianni]

So the first amendment is *really* code for the right to be offensive.

No, No, No. It's *really* code for the right to post child porn on billboards near daycare centers. /sarcasm