On Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:48:02 -0700, Larry Blanchard
wrote:

On Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:26:09 -0500, Tim Daneliuk wrote:

As a matter of law, you're absolutely right. To remove the evil of slavery,
we had to sacrifice limited government, the rule of law, the Constitution,
and, arguably, our future. Perhaps this is our divine punishment for
ever trading in humans.

If you believe the Gulf wars were fought to "free the oppressed" then
you'll believe the Civil War was fought over slavery :-).

Yes, the south seceded to keep slavery. That was morally wrong but
legal. The north went to war to "preserve the union", not to free the
slaves. That was illegal. The emancipation proclamation was issued in
hopes of fomenting slave rebellion in the south. It didn't free a single
slave in areas under Union control.

But it did preempt the British from siding with the CSA, Indian cotton
helped to though.

Mark