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States' Rights, my ass
Jan. 3rd, 2010 09:56 pmFor those who like to make apologies for the Civil War and claim that the real cause was "states' rights", not owning people, I call bullshit.
The document in that link, "A declaration of the causes which impel the State of Texas to secede from the Federal Union.", published February 2, 1861, clearly lays out (along with similar documents published in South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi) that slavery is the cause, that states' rights are a PROBLEM for the South, especially when Northern states use their states' rights to neglect to enforce bullshit like the Fugitive Slave Law, rather than following the Federal Laws that the slave states would prefer, and then of course there is the expected (but still appalling) bigoted statements about the superiority of the white race over that of the African.
States' Rights is a bullshit dodge. If someone wants to point out the differences in economic bases between the North and the South at the time, and mention how most of the Southern soldiers didn't own slaves and were just stupidly following their leaders the way most people do, fine, I'm with you on that. I'm not out to condemn people's ancestors (most of mine came over via Ellis Island after the Civil War), but quit making the states' rights argument. It's crap.
Edit: My phrasing was bad. The cause of the secession was slavery, not states' rights. The cause of the war was the US government's unwillingness to allow the South to secede peacefully.
The document in that link, "A declaration of the causes which impel the State of Texas to secede from the Federal Union.", published February 2, 1861, clearly lays out (along with similar documents published in South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi) that slavery is the cause, that states' rights are a PROBLEM for the South, especially when Northern states use their states' rights to neglect to enforce bullshit like the Fugitive Slave Law, rather than following the Federal Laws that the slave states would prefer, and then of course there is the expected (but still appalling) bigoted statements about the superiority of the white race over that of the African.
States' Rights is a bullshit dodge. If someone wants to point out the differences in economic bases between the North and the South at the time, and mention how most of the Southern soldiers didn't own slaves and were just stupidly following their leaders the way most people do, fine, I'm with you on that. I'm not out to condemn people's ancestors (most of mine came over via Ellis Island after the Civil War), but quit making the states' rights argument. It's crap.
Edit: My phrasing was bad. The cause of the secession was slavery, not states' rights. The cause of the war was the US government's unwillingness to allow the South to secede peacefully.
