Why the Civil War was retarded and not necessary

By on February 23, 2012 in Amazing, Left, Libertarian, Military, My fave, Organic, Places, Right

First off, it was not even a Civil War.  A Civil War is when two or more nations fight to control them all.  During the “War Between The States” (which I call the War of Northern Aggression), there was one side fighting to keep the other side from leaving.  The name itself is an oxymoron.  civil – definition of civil by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. Ok, since we got through that I can go on with my rant.

Civil War reactors are seen all the time in movies and shows.  I am now in Gettysburg, PA, where I am assuming a large chunk of the local economy comes from tourists visiting the battlefield.  I just don’t understand it.  It should be a black eye on Americans.  It was ignorant, stupid, and almost a million brothers (Americans) died.  Why is it so celebrated and why do we adore the leaders that fought in it?

MR. RUSSERT: I was intrigued by your comments about Abe Lincoln. “According to Paul, Abe Lincoln should never have gone to war; there were better ways of getting rid of slavery.”

REP. PAUL: Absolutely. Six hundred thousand Americans died in a senseless civil war. No, he shouldn’t have gone, gone to war. He did this just to enhance and get rid of the original intent of the republic. I mean, it was the — that iron, iron fist.   Ron Paul and the Economics of Slavery by Bob Murphy

Inconvenient truths of the civil war (war between the states):

  • Approximately 625,000 men died in the Civil War, more Americans than in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined.10 Surprising Civil War Facts  I’m not saying that killing is right (it’s not), but killing your own brother, neighbor, countryman, or what ever is even more wrong.
  • The war was about slavery you say.  The truth is that both New Jersey and Maryland (and others) had slaves during the war.  Slavery in the North  So using basic logic, why did the north fight to end slavery when they had slaves?  Nevertheless, when compared to the south, the north had a very small slave population.
  • Lincoln didn’t not free the slaves.  The Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in the south.  This was rubbish at the time since the south wasn’t apart of U.S.  ”When issued it did not immediately free a single slave.  This is because its application was limited to those parts of North America which were still under the control of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America.  It did not apply to those Slave States, such as Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri which had not seceded from the Union, nor did it apply to those parts of the Confederate States of America (such parts of Virginia (which was later admitted to the Union as West Virginia) and Florida) which had been occupied by and remained under the control of US forces at that date.” What was Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
  • The truth is Lincoln was racist (pretty much every president was until Eisenhower).  Also, when I say racist I mean the true meaning, which is the belief that one race is inferior to another.  Lincoln wanted to send all the slaves back to Africa. 10 Surprising Civil War Facts  Yes Socialists, FDR, Wilson, & Truman were racist as hell.  Google it fo sho.
  • Confederate General Robert E. Lee opposed slavery (I’ve read he inherited slaves):

In 1856 he made this statement: “There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil.”

During the Civil War, Union commanders pillaged the South, abusing civilians in unspeakable ways, destroying railroads and factories, and burning private homes, public buildings, schools and libraries. Union forces also slaughtered livestock and decimated crops, after they took what they wanted.

Periodic reports detailing their carnage were sent to General Halleck in Washington who shared them with President Lincoln. In a typical report issued on September 17, 1863, Union General Sherman added this comment; “We will remove every obstacle-if need be, take every life, every acre of land, every particle of property, everything that to us seems proper.” Halleck showed this report to Lincoln, who enjoyed it so much that he demanded that it be published. Remembering Robert E. Lee

  • Atlanta is the only city in North America that was destroyed by fire as an act of war. Atlanta Trivia Facts and Folklore  Can you imagine the U.S. burning down Baghdad?  If we did this today there would be riots in the street.

These facts (or interesting findings) are not intended to show that the south was right and the north was evil. It is to show you that both sides were retarded.  It is easy to send people off to die when you do not have to die with them.  History is written by the victor.  You have to use your prefrontal cortex to understand it.

The above video is from the movie Gangs of New York.  It depicts the “Civil War’ draft riots that happened in New York.

More importantly, secession in no way necessitates war, regardless of what the reasons for secession are. The reasons for secession, and the reasons why there was a war, are two entirely separate issues. When New Englanders openly and publicly plotted to secede for fourteen years after Thomas Jefferson’s election, culminating in the 1814 secession convention in Hartford, Connecticut, neither President Jefferson nor President Madison (or anyone else) said one word about the appropriate response to a Northern-state secession being “invasion,” “force,” and “bloodshed.” These are the words Lincoln used in his first inaugural address to describe what would happen in any Southern state that seceded.

It is unlikely that anyone even dreamed of invading Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and bombing and burning Boston, Hartford and Providence into a smoldering ruin while murdering thousands of New Englanders, women and children included, if New England were to secede. Indeed, when Jefferson was asked what would happen if New England seceded, he said in a letter that New Englanders, like all other Americans “would all be our children” and he would wish them all well. More recently, all of the Soviet republics, and all of Eastern and Central Europe peacefully seceded from the Soviet Union. Secession does not necessitate war. The Official, Politically-Correct Cause of the ‘Civil War’ by Thomas DiLorenzo

The myth that is perpetuated by history books does not make logical sense.  Seriously, why would millions of people fight to free people they do not know?  Also, why would the 95% of southerners that didn’t own slaves fight to keep them.  People fight because they are manipulated by governments or they are forced.  They also fight to protect their lives and homes.  The premises indoctrinated to us in our public school system do not pass the sniff test.  It smells more like a rotten egg fart.

Recommend readings and where I got most of this:

 

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  • http://fivedemands.blogspot.com/ Mark

    It's a shame people know so little about what led up to the Civil war.

    You should read Southern books, Southern newspapers, and Southern speeches from 1850- 1861 What their headlines shouted, what their leaders thundered in speech after speech, what their books and sermons said — at the time: SPREAD SLAVERY OR THERE WILL BE WAR.

    The Civil War was fought because the South made good on their promise of war is slavery was not SPREAD. See the Southern headlines at the time. For example, Richmond Newspapers in March of 1861 "THE TRUE ISSUE".

    What was the true issue, according to Southern papters? SLAVERY had to spread or their would be war. The Southern leaders issued 5 ultimatums, the first thing they did, after they seceded, is issue 5 Ultimatums.

    Care to guess what the Ultimatums by their leaders were? Care to guess what Southern headlines shouted?
    Five Ultimatums, all about the spread of slavery.

    Not one, not two, not three of them. Not even four of the five ultimatums, but ALL FIVE of the Five Ultimatums were about the SPREAD of slavery into the territories and the rights to enslave.

    • http://www.bontheball.com Bontheball

      I like and respect your feedback.
      Also, I wasn't trying to say that the South didn't want slavery. It was intended to make people think why the war really started. I just don't buy the fact that millions of Union soldiers and millions of non-slave owning Southerners fought over slavery. I believe the main goal of spreading slavery was to get more votes and representation in DC. Also, it was around 100 years later after the war that African Americans gained civil liberties.

      I also believe that slavery would of ended in the US around the 1870's or 80 with the inventions of more efficient farming equipment. Brazil was the last county in the western hemisphere to end slavery in 1888. Chapter 4. The End of Slavery No other country that ended slavery required a war.

  • Jim

    Wow, there are some many half-truths and misstatements in this article. It's not that it is all wrong, but slavery was the entire reason for the Civil War, the South was the aggressor, and it was seen as nearly unavoidable since the Constitution was written.
    1. According to your own source (slave north.com), slavery was abolished in New Jersey in 194. It was just that the few remaining slaves were not freed. They were kept in bondage til death, but no new slaves could come into the state.
    2. Lincoln only freed the slaves in the southern states because he had authority to do since much of the area was occupied by the northern army. There were only four nothern states that allowed slavery at the time (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware). Missouri and Kentucky were divided, with separate legislatures seceding and remaining loyal to the union.
    3. Jefferson Davis did veto reopening slave trade. But, that also means that the conscientious members of the CSA legislature had to vote to reopen it. The legal slave trade had ended by Consititutional decree in 1808 (that is over 50 years earlier).
    4. Both Washington, DC and an admittedly smaller city of Newark, ON (Now Niagara-on-the-Lake) were both burned almost completely to the ground.
    5. There were a few irregular CSA members who were African-American according to some reports. But, of the officially enlisted, there may have been as many as 100, and most were hospital workers conscripted in the Army of Northern Virginia.
    6. You neglected to mention that the south was the aggressor and attacked military bases of the Union first. The is why the war was necessary, because when you are attacked, you don't roll over.
    7. All of the additional reasons that are listed as a cause of the Civil War revolve around slavery. States' Right…the right for states to make laws about slavery. Economy…the Economy of slavery. Southern Culture…the culture of slavery. They were afraid Lincoln was going to eliminate slavery, plain and simple.
    8. The millions of soldiers fought for the same reason that soldiers fight today…loyalty. Does every soldier in Afghanistan have to believe in the basic tenets of being there. No. They fight because that is what they do. In the Civil War there (as today) there are other reasons to fight. Some because of conscription, others because of fealty to a cause (the Union, the Southern Way, etc), Other fought for the money, still others because they had nothing. A myriad of other reasons.
    9. Slavery ended in most countries because it was uneconomical. It would have taken decades within the southern economy for it to become uneconomical. Largely due to numbers. Nearly half-of the population of the deep-south were slaves. Just on logistics alone that would have taken until well into the twentieth century to sort out without a massive overhaul (such as a war, or a catastrophe).
    10. African-American gained civil liberties in the 1860's through the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, but once Reconstruction ended, new laws were put in place specifically to deprive African-Americans of their Civil Rights. It took until the 1950's for those laws to be deemed Unconstitutional for a number of reasons, that would take a lifetime's worth of work to lay out here.

    • http://www.bontheball.com Bontheball

      Wow, you got some good stuff.
      I. New Jersey could not bring in slaves..correct. However, slave off-springs could still be slaves.
      2. Lincoln actually stated in 2 state of the union addresses that if this war was only about slavery it would end today. It was about preserving the union. Don't get me wrong some abolitionists were bout it bout it, but the main reason was economics.
      3. Slave trade ended when Thomas Jefferson was in office. CSA had their own constitution.
      4. I forgot about DC. I don't know how much of that was destroyed. Burning down cities of innocent people is not cool. Actually, a lot of slaves and freed blacks were killed.
      6. The South wasn't the aggressor. The majority of the battles were fought in the south. General Lee actually brought the fight up north only to give the northern population the horrible taste of war. No Northern cities were burned. Fort Sumter was in SC. SC seceded. Nobody was killed. SC felt that since the fort was in their sovereign state that the US govt. should not be there. Lincolns blockade starved millions of innocent southerners.
      7. You are forgetting about the tariff on raw goods that was used to help develop the northern industries.
      9. Why were we on the only country to go to war over it? Doesn't make sense. Plus, it is impossible for both of us to say when slavery would've ended without the war. I highly doubt it would taken longer than Brazil. South America and the Caribbean had way more slaves.

      You have a compelling argument, but I don't think you gave enough evidence. Furthermore, since Lincoln himself stated that the war was about preserving the union and not about slavery doesn't help your argument either. Not to mention Lincoln did a lot of unconstitutional stuff: printed out greenbacks not backed by gold, started the first income tax, suspended the writ of habeus corpus, etc. I still don't understand why he is so celebrated.

      The entire premise of the article is to make you think why war is stupid and not necessary unless it is defensive. People want to believe that unprovoked wars were for some noble cause. Shite, just look at every other country. We cannot grow as country until we realize the mistakes that were made in the past. The death of 600K was a mistake. Slavery was a horrible blunder. The unconstitutional ways of Lincoln was a mistake. The burning of innocent victims in cities was a horrible mistake.