Although the primary reason for wanting slavery was economic (the reliance on slave labour fuelled the southern economy), religious, historical and even humanitarian arguments were made in its favour. Slavery created many millionaires in places like the Mississippi River valley because of the cotton trade. Although most people in the South didn’t own slaves, many supported it, possibly because they aspired to join the wealthier classes, who were slave owners. The South feared the North wanted to abolish slavery. Prior to the Civil War starting, there was much tension between the South and the North, which came to a head when Lincoln became President with a clean sweep of the North and no seats in the South.
WHO WROTE THE SOUTHERN BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM FREE
A black man, for example, with a family could be whisked away to the South and become a slave having been free his whole life. I was astonished to read that slave owners in the South could send men to the North and simply grab free black people, declaring that they were escaped slaves! The courts rarely ruled in favour of blacks. However, this was not universally true, just as some Republicans wanted to keep slavery and some Democrats didn’t (especially Northern Democrats).īy 1819, the US was made of 11 Slave States and 11 Free States.
WHO WROTE THE SOUTHERN BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM PRO
The North (“Yankees”) were generally against slavery and pro Union (keeping the states united). The South are variously described as rebels, secessionists (wanting to break away from the United States), and Confederates. It seems incredible given the current leanings of the two parties. I didn’t, for example, know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican or that there were Republicans who wanted to abolish slavery and Democrats who wanted to preserve it. When reading history it’s sometimes the incidental details that are fascinating. I’ve just finished reading Battle Cry of Freedom, a fine single volume history of the War by James McPherson.
I became curious, especially about the American Civil War, a pivotal event in American history. It was mostly odd facts like California was once part of Mexico or the history of independence in Boston. When I was in the USA, I was exposed to parts of American history.
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