Re: “I’m not sure Lincoln is the best President to invoke here....”
Man, you got that right!
I am not a big fan of Abe Lincoln’s Constitutional integrity.
In my opinion, Lincoln’s single minded goal in the Civil War was the absolute destruction of slavery, which was a noble and necessary act.
However, he hid behind the political and propaganda straw man of “Preserving the Union.”
I flat out do not believe that millions of Northern soldiers were motivated to risk their lives and treasure in order to “Preserve the Union.”
I mean, how many people on this website would risk their lives and treasure to stop California from seceding from the Union?
The only reason we would fight would be if California threatened neighboring states with hostile actions.
In my opinion, Lincoln’s single minded goal in the Civil War was the absolute destruction of slavery, which was a noble and necessary act.
I believe Lincoln put an end to slavery with none but the deepest reluctance, and then only as a means to hasten the Confederacy's defeat. He held a very low opinion of Negroes all his life, never campaigned for office or prosecuted the war as an abolitionist, and freed slaves only in the Confederacy, not the nation as a whole.
“I flat out do not believe that millions of Northern soldiers were motivated to risk their lives and treasure in order to “Preserve the Union. I mean, how many people on this website would risk their lives and treasure to stop California from seceding from the Union?”
It is always dangerous to apply current attitudes and moralities to people in other times. During the war, some observers at the time noted the kind of flabergasting bravery soldiers of both sides displayed standing there in ranks firing volleys at each other. Yet they did. “Preserving the Union” is an important reason out of many reasons cited in Union soldier’s diaries and letters. For the Southern soldier is was states rights and preserving Southern “culture”.
In the end, ‘esprit de corps’ is why these men fought so bravely. They did it for each other regardless of the motivation that got them into the army in the first place. In the case of the Civil War, units were often raised locally and stayed together, you could have friends or the sons of local people next to you.