No, those knowledgeable of the reasons for secession
and the ensuing War Between the States realize that the slavery was not
the consideration, but because of unfair tariffs levied against southern
businesses by the northern-sympathetic congress.
Let's look at some facts:
(1) When the Declaration
of Independence was signed July 4, 1776, slavery was in all 13 colonies/states.
(2) Slaves were imported
only under British and Spanish rule prior to the Revolutionary War or under
the American flag. None were imported under the Confederate government.
(3) 90% of the soldiers
in the Confederate Army didn't own any slaves and that Lincoln, between
1861 and 1862, didn't free any slaves in Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky,
Missouri, or Washington D.C.; places where he had the power to do so.
(4) The Confederate Constitution
forbade the importation of slaves. Slaves were only imported under the
Stars and Stripes in post-colonial America!
(5) Emancipation? President
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave. Issued
at a time when the Confederacy seemed to be winning the war, Lincoln hoped
to transform a disagreement over secession into a crusade against slavery,
thus preventing Great Britain (and France) from intervening on the side
of the South. The proclamation allowed slavery to continue in the North
as well as in Tennessee and large parts of Louisiana and Virginia. It applied
only to Confederate-held slaves, which Lincoln had no authority over, but
not to slaves under Federal control.
The focal point of the slavery issue is to rewrite
history at the expense of fact. History is neither good nor bad, merely
fact upon fact. Clearly, slavery was not the issue.
Here are some surprising facts:
In St. Louis, General John Fremont freed slaves of "disloyal" Missouri Confederates;
an angry Lincoln fired him. Slaves in Washington, D.C. were not freed until
April 1862, a year after the war began with the firing at Ft. Sumter. Slavery
continued throughout the entire war in five Union-held states: DE, MD,
WV, KY and MO. The New York City draft riots of July 1863 resulted in burning
of a beautiful black orphanage and lynching of blacks. A provision in
the Confederate Constitution prohibited the African slave trade outright
(unlike the U.S. Constitution). Encouraged by General Lee, the CSA eventually
freed slaves who would join the army, and did recruit and arm black regiments.
C.S. General Robert E. Lee freed his family slaves before the war; Union
Gen. U.S. Grant kept his wife's slaves well into the war. Many blacks owned
slaves themselves. In 1861 Charleston, for example, a free colored planter
named William Ellison owned 70 slaves. Even in 1830 New York City, three
decades before the war, eight black planters owned 17 slaves.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans
(SCV) is a patriotic, historical, and educational organization, founded
in 1896, dedicated to honoring the sacrifices of the Confederate soldier
and sailor, and to preserving the Southern Culture.
