Economic reasons for starters. The South had gotten lazy from selling cotton and slaves, and had fallen way behind the North in infrastructure. As the soil got depleted, it became obvious that an economy based solely on free labor and cotton wasn't going to last forever.

When California became a state, they recognized the inevitable decline of the South's economy and decided they didn't want slavery in California.

Patriotic reasons also led to the decline of slavery. Unlike moral reasons which would dictate that slavery is an issue of basic human decency, people started to recognize the hypocrisy of the Declaration of Independence. The public started changing their ideas about slavery because they realized it was wrong as an American, not just as a human being.

Economic and patriotic reasons were actually far more effective in getting slavery abolished. We could go into a whole discussion about the differences among Abolishionists and Anti-Slavery proponents if you like. A lot of people think they're the same thing.

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Posted by 3nOut

Central Texas, TX

Member since Jan 2013

29108 posts

Posted on 1/24/15 at 11:38 am to Stonehog

I understand your points completely.

I mean at the end of the day slavery is terrible and should have been ended on moral reasons alone, what you just detailed is the fed overstepping its boundaries on an economic level. Removing the moral ambiguity or slavery from the situation, the Fed should have let them succeed or fail on their economy's merit.

I would suspect that that's just something you and I would not agree on.