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Was slavery the only reason of the war?

Discussion in 'The Ballot Box' started by Confederates are awesome, Apr 17, 2011.

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Was slavery the Only reason for the ACW

Yes, slavery was the only reason for the ACW 36 vote(s) 33.0%
Slavery was only part of leading to the ACW 67 vote(s) 61.5%
No, slavery did nothing in leading to the ACW 6 vote(s) 5.5%
  1. Confederates are awesome Cadet

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    Just say YES or NO. Im fine with that.
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  3. brass napoleon Captain

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  4. Confederates are awesome Cadet

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    Finally someone who understands what I mean! :tongue:
  5. wilber6150 Brig. General, Mod

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    Without slavery and the turmoil that it brought to inter-state relations there would have been no war...
  6. Doug McKay First Sergeant

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    Yes! Errrrr NO! Sorta maybe mostly depending sometimes on who yer great-grandpappy fit fer....but not always. After joining this forum I am so confused.
  7. ole Brig. General, Mod

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    Read "Apostles of Disunion." Makes it pretty plain where the secessionists' heads were.
  8. bama46 Captain

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    I am not sure, but I think you may have mentioned domething to that effect at one time or another...
    Yes, slavery was the main cause of the war, but the question as stated asked if slavery was the ONLY cause of the war, and it most assuredly was not.
  9. johan_steele Retired Mod; Still CoTM

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    I voted yes because I firmly believe slavery was the root cause of the issue, were there other issues of dispute, absolutely. But first and foremost, in my opinion, was the fear that a Republican in the White House would degrade the political power of the slaveocracy. The political ugliness between parties had been around too long, much as today when you see some Republicans & Democrats at each others throats you could ask them why the intense vitriol; and neither side could likely tell you.
  10. bama46 Captain

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    Seems we agree!
  11. Confederates are awesome Cadet

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    Who voted No, slavery did nothing in leading to the ACW? Thats ridiculous
  12. ole Brig. General, Mod

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    It isn't ridiculous. We have members who firmly believe that. It's what keeps discussions exciting.
  13. Confederates are awesome Cadet

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    Well, that's just my opinion. Don't be bothered by my comments. But you're right, it does keep discussions exciting.
  14. The Iron Duke First Sergeant

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    Reb you see how the numbers on the far right of the poll are blue? You can click on them and it will give you the names of the people who voted.
  15. wilber6150 Brig. General, Mod

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    The other reasons were not enough to cause a war....Slavery was the poison in the kool-aid...Why didn't any free states seceed based on these other reasons? All the other reasons were minor inter state irratations that were blown out of proportion by the presence of slavery in the argument..Suddenly small arguments explode because one side thinks the other is trying to intefer with slavery or its right to keep slavery out of its borders, and both sides are blinded by this and cant see just how small the original argument was...

    When you examine the reasons they give for secession, everyone of them aside from tariffs, has slavery as its root cause for being there..ie Expansion into territories, hinderance of the FSL, John Browns raid, abolitionist behavior..The root cause of all these is slavery.. If slavery didn't exist, none of these reasons for secession would have existed either and the war would not have come about..There certainly would have been future arguments between states and the Federal government, but there was nothing so dire as to cause a war..
  16. ole Brig. General, Mod

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    Well said, Will. If there were other reasons, they were not enough over which to go to war.
  17. Doug McKay First Sergeant

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    A case can be made that even the anger over tarriffs can be linked to slavery. Little or no capital in the South was going toward manufacturing. It was mostly all cotton and slaves, cotton and slaves. No manufacturing of any significance leaves you hat in hand to the hated yankee manufacturers and imported goods. Ya gotta buy those items from those who make em. Slavery, it can be argued, helped to create such a situation in the South. I had a an econ Prof one time who made an interesting case for this. I am not an economist.
  18. brass napoleon Captain

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    But that's like saying that Mrs. O'Leary's cow was the only reason for the Chicago fire. True, the cow kicked over the lantern, but there had to be a lantern, and hay, and the right wind conditions, and yada, yada, yada....

    Now imagine a scenario where the Founding Fathers had included in the Constitution an article on secession, stating explicitly its legality, one way or the other, and, if legal, spelling out a detailed procedure to accomplish it. Would war have occurred? Probably not. So while I agree that slavery was the only contemporary political issue, and was the biggest cause, it was not the only cause.
  19. brass napoleon Captain

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    Interesting. I never knew that.
  20. Tin cup First Sergeant

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    It was slavery.

    Nothing else was making people behave so badly.

    Kevin Dally
  21. KeyserSoze First Sergeant

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    It's hard to frame this in a yes-or-no answer. Yes, there were other areas of disagreement between North and South. But at the end of the day if you take away slavery and leave every other reason then the South does not rebel. Leave slavery and take away everything else and the South does. It's as simple as that.

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