Seldom can we hear from a person why he fought. But this Civil War veteran who died in 1948 explained why he fought along with his fellow soldiers. It is not really up for debate due to him being in the war and telling us his story. Comments should be about this soldiers story.
There's what this soldier said, and here's what those who sent him off to war said: The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States https://www.battlefields.org/learn/...=The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States
The point I'm trying to make is that soldier was fighting for whatever aims the ones who sent him to war desired. Yes slavery was legal. Sad that it's now illegal?
Definitely true. Those who invaded VA were only guilty of carrying out Lincolns war. Are you sad slavery is not legal? Do not forget our 12 presidents (around 25 percent of all) that owned slaves. So it was not rare at all.
The North was responding to the Southern States withdrawing and forming their own government, then fired first at Fort Sumpter starting the war. It wasn't "Lincoln's war" it was a war of the states that was started by the southern states.
So if slavery "was not rare at all" did that make it a good thing? Make you sad it ended? The Civil War was about slavery, pure and simple
The 10th Amendment and the Rights of States. Powers not delegated to the Federals include Housing, Education, Health, Welfare, Energy, yet all powered now from the Presidency. Listen closely at 0:50 Moi STOP ization of
The problem is that most people seem to have the inability to remove their own beliefs from a subject, and insist on trying to fight it all over again in the modern era. Injecting their own beliefs onto a world that was vastly different than that of today. But ultimately, that is what started the war. All of the other things about slavery and the rest, ultimately the war would never have started if almost half of the country did not try and break away, then attack the other half. The President did not even order any attacks, simply ordered the military to hunker down and try and wait things out. But it was the Confederate Firebrands that were so sure they could win that they started the prosecution of the war. If not for that, the situation could likely have lasted for years. Especially as a huge number of Southerners themselves were against the war.
According to the Vice President of the Confederacy, the South was fighting to preserve white supremacist rule over black people.
An interesting over-simplification of the 1861 Cornerstone Speech by Alexander Stephens. However, Stephens is also a rather complex man. A firebrand and staunch supporter of slavery and state rights, he also was strongly against secession. Even as a member of the Georgia Secession Convention, he spoke often and impassionedly against revolt, and believed it was best to remain in the Union. And it is well known he worked tirelessly against President Davis in trying to bring the war to a close as quickly as possible. Even trying to secure prisoner exchanges and cease-fires to lessen the impact of the war on both sides. Even meeting with President Lincoln in 1865 to try to bring the war to an end. It never does good to try and look at people in a one-dimension way. Mr. Stephens was a rather complex man. Both a firm believer in the Constitution, but also not wanting to see the war.