"HeyBub" wrote:
snip the IBS

IBS: Intellectual Bull ****

Come on now, you can do better than try to get IBS to stick on the
wall.

Lew

Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:24:27 -0500, HeyBub wrote:

The real reason behind the War of Norther Aggression was money.
Cotton, at that time, accounted for about 70% of the nation's
exports. Without money flowing in to the South for the purchase of
their cotton, the South couldn't buy the sub-standard manufactured
goods supplied by the North. Without that money, the northeners
couldn't pay wages and would have to resort to slaves.

Haven't heard it quite that way. AFAIK, one of the major reasons the
North didn't just let the South secede was the free trade issue -
South for, North against. At that time most of the federal
government money came from excise taxes. If foreign shippers
bypassed northern ports, the feds were up the proverbial creek.

But to claim slavery had nothing to do with it is ridiculous. There
were lots of folks in the north that opposed slavery and were in
favor of a war to abolish it. That was a better "cause" for the feds
to support than losing revenues.


There have been few wars in history that were waged for moral purposes. Oh,
that's the reason given for many (i.e. the Crusades), but most wars have, at
the core, been fought for economic motives.

You have a good point about free trade vs excessive tariffs. The South was
opposed to tariffs because nobody was trying to import cotton! Conversely,
cheaper manufactured goods from, say, England, were attractive to southern
importers (and equally hateful to northern industry).


I'll dispute "lots... opposed to slavery." There were many in the
Abolitionist movement, true, but they were more of a nusiance rabble than an
effective political force and even within the movement, schisms developed
regarding female sufferage and other peripheral issues. Remember, Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamations (Sept 1, 1862) came significantly after
hostilities commenced in April 1861. Further, the Emancipation Proclamation
did not apply to slave holdings in the non-secession states.

Interestingly, the Emancipation Proclamation specifically excluded Texas.
I'm told that parts of the Piney Woods in east Texas still cling to the old
ways...