So most people don't know what we're saying, but it determines what they think anyway. Oh to have such power!
Of course, you're just being stupid here. For today's young radicals, Lincoln, his party, and his union aren't heroes. They do know that much.
It was the ominous threat to the North's existing trade income represented by an Independent South, which was their primary motivation to wage war. It is why one of the first things they did is attempt to stop that same European trade, which had no obvious military value that I can see.
Nonsense. When there's a war, you cut off the resources that enable the other side to fight and win the war. In that sense, cotton did have "obvious military value." The Confederate leadership certainly thought it did and could win the war.
The war was fought over who got the benefit of that slave money, not over how it was produced. It was primarily an economic war regarding which the morality of slavery was only tangentially involved.
Idiocy. That's your Marxist whiny baby slight of hand: "They told me it was all about slavery. Waaah. Actually it was all about money." Actually it was neither.
The fire eaters very much did see their slave money threatened by the election of a Republican. That was what drove the secession movement. Northerners resented what they saw as an unconstitutional secession and an assault on American forces and on the flag. Once the fighting started people rallied to one side or the other.
Lincoln -- or any president -- couldn't simply collapse before secessionist subversion and Confederate demands. Any president who didn't want to betray his oath and become a complete disgrace had to try to hold the line a little against secession -- had to prevent the capital, for example, from being cut off from the rest of the country.
If Davis had thought it was all about money for Lincoln and the North, he had only to resist the impulse to attack and let the Northerners' "real motives" become clear. If Lincoln attacked Davis, it would reveal that Lincoln had intended war all along. If he didn't there was potential for a negotiated settlement. But Davis couldn't help starting a war. Maybe it was all about the money for him.
They focus on Slavery because if you focus on the real issues, the North does not look so very good regarding what they did.
Meaning slavery wasn't a "real issue." Your words.
Confederates were trying to ban abolitionist books. People who owned and read such books were hanged. How could slavery possibly not be a "real issue"?
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It has some very interesting observations that dovetail quite well with my theory. I did not know that it was for New England interests that the Slave trade was continued till 1808. I had always assumed it was a concession to the South.
Very interesting read so far.
And of what Military value was Cotton? It certainly had trade value, but would it have won any victories for the South because people of Europe were wearing clothes?
As I have pointed out, they didn't seem to want for guns or powder in those early battles. Certainly they seemed to acquire enough despite the blockade. But what the blockade did do is scare away normal trade, and funnel the vast bulk of the existing trade to New England.
Militarily it served little purpose, but economically, and to prevent the establishment of economic based alliances with Europe, it was very effective.
Idiocy. That's your Marxist whiny baby slight of hand: "They told me it was all about slavery. Waaah. Actually it was all about money." Actually it was neither.
It was pretty much about money. As Charles Dickens noted, Millions acquired by the North and Lost by the South. It was only a question of where those Millions would end up.
Once the fighting started people rallied to one side or the other.
Well especially since the President started throwing Legislators in Jail, and locking up dissidents. Not showing how much you agreed with him could end you up in jail.
Lincoln -- or any president -- couldn't simply collapse before secessionist subversion and Confederate demands.
What demands? That they not have a foreign power commanding cannons overlooking the entrance to their primary port city? That seems a pretty reasonable demand to me, and do not forget that it only became a demand long after numerous "requests" and offers of payment were ignored.
If Davis had thought it was all about money for Lincoln and the North, he had only to resist the impulse to attack and let the Northerners' "real motives" become clear.
I think Lincoln's secret mission played a big role in pushing Davis' hand. One does not engage in secrecy for an effort at resupply, especially after you have informed your opposition that "resupply" is your intention.
The Confederate forces surrounding the Fort did not know at the time what this flotilla of ships and men would do, but I expect their leadership knew full well that it had been given secret orders. For all Confederate military knew, they might soon be in the pincers of an attack from both the Sea and the Fortress, which would have been an untenable military position.
I've seen orders that they were intending to do nothing until they saw another ship rendezvousing with the other ships 10 miles off the coast of the Charleston Lighthouse. At that point, they realized they were in a precarious position with the Guns of the Fort on one side, and the Guns of those ships, however many there might be, and whatever armament they may have possessed, on the other side.
If it were an attack, they would be fools to wait for it. If it were not an attack, then why were there secret orders?
Meaning slavery wasn't a "real issue." Your words.
It wasn't a "real issue" as to why Soldiers were marched across borders.