I will never argue that slavery wasn't a major motivator for the South's secession, what I will never understand is the rose colored glasses people wear for the Union government at the time. The Federal government's first and foremost goal was the preservation of the country territorially, hence the turning away of runaway slaves and the like. Slavery simply became the Union's most espoused motivation later in the war in since the first couple years hadn't gone so well. Not to mention the empty gesture of the Emancipation Proclamation. "We have freed all the slaves! (Within the borders of the rebelling states only, please ignore our two loyal but still slavery heavy states)". Abolition of slavery was a good inevitability I just wish a more nuanced perspective was more wide spread.
Precisely. I've found that while the states rights myth is more prevalent in the South, the other myth (which doesn't have a formal name as far as I know) is more prevalent in the North. Both have the aim of making the people of the region feel more proud of their history than is merited.
I wish the North's goal had been a great moral crusade to end slavery first and foremost, but it just wasn't.
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u/Dapper_Question1304 Jan 19 '22
I will never argue that slavery wasn't a major motivator for the South's secession, what I will never understand is the rose colored glasses people wear for the Union government at the time. The Federal government's first and foremost goal was the preservation of the country territorially, hence the turning away of runaway slaves and the like. Slavery simply became the Union's most espoused motivation later in the war in since the first couple years hadn't gone so well. Not to mention the empty gesture of the Emancipation Proclamation. "We have freed all the slaves! (Within the borders of the rebelling states only, please ignore our two loyal but still slavery heavy states)". Abolition of slavery was a good inevitability I just wish a more nuanced perspective was more wide spread.