The American Civil War

[piercehawkeye45]

I have heard that they freed the slaves because they had too but I never heard the official reason. My best guess was an economic reason or that there wasn't enough people to keep them in slavery since so many people died but that doesn't seem right...

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

I have heard that they freed the slaves because they had too but I never heard the official reason. My best guess was an economic reason or that there wasn't enough people to keep them in slavery since so many people died but that doesn't seem right...

I don't think that is correct. As Griff stated the arguments and fight continues to this day. I am from the North, moved to the mid-West, and now live in the South. The subject down here is as fresh as a recent rain.

[yesman065]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

~~snip~~and now live in the South. The subject down here is as fresh as a recent rain.

Thats really sad!

[Griff]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

I have heard that they freed the slaves because they had too but I never heard the official reason. My best guess was an economic reason or that there wasn't enough people to keep them in slavery since so many people died but that doesn't seem right...

Lincoln needed to put the war on a moral footing to keep his people on board. The Emancipation Proclamation didn't free a single slave. It was limited to those areas which were in rebellion and by extention out of his control. He needed the abolitionists because war fatigue had set in and his new conceptualization of "Union" was not very appealing.

Slavery was already becoming economically untenable, as mechanization was coming on. Other countries were ending slavery without bloodshed and even in the States people were floating ideas for compensated manumission. Unfortunately, the rhetoric was so heated that reasonable compromise was not possible, since almost everyone believed that the other side was evil. Lincoln himself wanted to ship the freed slaves back to Africa. The way I look at it, slavery was part of the economic incompatibility of what was becoming two countries. The intensity of the times makes our red state blue state anger pale by comparison.