Comments on: Amazing Fact: The Civil War was fought over slavery

By: thehistoricpresent

thehistoricpresent — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 23:22:50 +0000

Hello Tony; thanks for writing. We would be glad to see your sources for the Russian angle on all this.
Lincoln did indeed state many times “how he felt about slavery”; of course, this feeling changed over time, from resigned acceptance to abolition. When Lincoln said that he would free enslaved people if it would win the war, this was an enormous step. No president had ever said he would end slavery for any reason. As we say in our post the Victory of the Emancipation Proclamation, it would be like a president today saying that if he could bring peace to the Middle East without using nuclear weapons, he would, but if he had to use nuclear weapons he would. People would ask, when on earth did nuclear weapons get on the table?? That’s how Americans reading Lincoln in 1862 felt—when on earth did abolition get on the table for a U.S. president? Americans at the time saw it as the cataclysmic statement it really was.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:03:19 +0000

I’m wowed. Please stop. The proclamation only pertained to the states that had declared secession and that’s a fact. Another major fact omitted is that the Russian Czar Alexander II required Lincoln to proclaim emancipation before he would declare he was siding with the union. If Lincoln had not made that proclamation France and England were prepared to assist the confederacy. It was the Russian presence that kept France and England out of the war. Lincoln stated many times how he felt about slavery and also pointed out that if he could save the union without freeing one slave he would. What’s with this religious type research? If you’re gonna do research try to stick to the facts. Even the new movie Lincoln is a shameless attempt to thwart the truth. His statements and actions alone conflict with every claim your article makes.

By: Ela

Ela — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:31:37 +0000

I always laugh at anyone that says that the Civil War was about states rights not slavery.

I mean anyone with common sense knows that these so called “states rights” that the South was fighting for was about the state’s right to slavery!!!

The two terms are not mutually exclusive no matter how much those still stuck in 1865 try to put it.

Usually when I hear someone say that the Civil War was not fought over slavery I start to tune out. I refuse to listen to some uneducated hick or some jerk trying to hold onto old Confederate fantasies.

By: Dan Walker

Dan Walker — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:02:57 +0000

Yes Civil War was about slavery.

The South said it was. What are putting on to show it? There is plenty to show.

Show the Declaration of Causes -they say slavery. Show the speeeches by the leaders of the Confederacy — they say it was slavery.

Yes so much of this has been covered up — for 150 years the South has been to embarrassed to deal with the SOUTH’S own documents and words.

Show what they were saying and doing. Reading their own stuff is like reading Hitler’s Mien Kampf.

YOu gotta put proof of your position.

By: amy

amy — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:20:31 +0000

this is so cool and interisting

By: dancetheroad

dancetheroad — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:04:47 +0000

Interesting, I just wrote an almost completely opposite article on the civil war (hence why your post came up). I grew up hearing it was about slavery and just now for the first time am hearing the other side and am convinced of the opposite. I’m sure you have a great deal more experience than I do, but I cannot agree.