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re: Do you think the Civil War was started over slavery?
Posted on 2/13/15 at 1:32 am to Stonehog
Posted on 2/13/15 at 1:32 am to Stonehog
Unpopular around here I know but the letters, constitutions, and formal documents make it clear as day that slavery was the issue.
That said, I DO believe economic issues played a role - the problem was the biggest one the wealth/dolla dolla bills associated with slavery (later sharecropping and in my state both black folks and white folks were sharecroppers post-slavery to a much a higher degree than elsewhere).
Keep in mind tho' I'm from an area within an area (E. TN) that was fiercely pro-Union and antislavery (first paper dedicated solely to abolition was started here just outside of Knoxville and the region was considered the 'freest soil in the entire Union (north or south) to talk abolition. We were also openly condemned and reviled by the rest of the South for 'mingling too much socially' with black folks and treating black folks like humans. I knew old timers (diehard mountain republicans - different breed) who actually went to their graves calling democrats rebs.
I didn't always know this (and much more about my area) but I'm damn proud of this region now that I do.
That said, I DO believe economic issues played a role - the problem was the biggest one the wealth/dolla dolla bills associated with slavery (later sharecropping and in my state both black folks and white folks were sharecroppers post-slavery to a much a higher degree than elsewhere).
Keep in mind tho' I'm from an area within an area (E. TN) that was fiercely pro-Union and antislavery (first paper dedicated solely to abolition was started here just outside of Knoxville and the region was considered the 'freest soil in the entire Union (north or south) to talk abolition. We were also openly condemned and reviled by the rest of the South for 'mingling too much socially' with black folks and treating black folks like humans. I knew old timers (diehard mountain republicans - different breed) who actually went to their graves calling democrats rebs.
I didn't always know this (and much more about my area) but I'm damn proud of this region now that I do.
This post was edited on 2/13/15 at 1:35 am
2
Posted on 2/13/15 at 7:05 am to Prof
No ... you're absolutely right. East Tennessee from Knoxville to Bristol was mostly Yankee ... still is for that matter. It's a very pro-Obama, pro-Democrat liberal area even today. Some of the most obnoxious blind destructive liberal progressive idiots this side of the Mississippi still come outta there. Hell ... that evil POS Johnson was from there.
Posted on 2/13/15 at 7:46 am to Prof
quote:
We were also openly condemned and reviled by the rest of the South for 'mingling too much socially' with black folks and treating black folks like humans.
Though it was much easier to have that attitude when the region was made up of 1-2% of those types of people. I agree, it is something to be proud of, but I always get a bit of a chuckle when I hear people from Upper East Tennessee talking about places like South Georgia and Alabama and their "racism" (more of a Jim Crowe era thing than slavery). When blacks make up 3% of your population it is much easier to easily "integrate" and talk about equality than when it is 50/50. The racist language and overtones of life in Kingsport was much higher than anything I ever experienced in West Alabama or Georgia, and most of it was just from total lack of a relationship with those of a different color.
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