2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Lincoln - what if he had really negotiated with the South ? [View all]csziggy
(34,131 posts)That was what the Wilmot Proviso, Missouri Compromise, and the Compromise of 1850.
But Southern politicians were not interested in compromise. They were like the Tea Party of today - give them an inch of what they want, they push for feet more.
Remember, the SOUTH fired the first shots. The NORTH did not start the Civil War. Slave owners were not at all interested in giving up their nearly free labor. And even after the war they maintained - and STILL maintain - a social system that did not give fair pay to low level workers. More than anything, THAT is what has kept the South poor. The South in general still does not accept unions and the improvements for workers that they bring. How would the same system accept improvements in the lives of slaves if our country had allowed that institution to remain?
Although my family has deep roots in the South, I blame the South for the Civil War and the continuing political, social, and economic problems of the South. Southerners need to GIVE UP their delusion that the Civil War was forced on them by the North. Southerners wanted that war, started that war, and refuse to admit that they LOST THAT WAR.
The Civil War is OVER and has been for 147 years. Give it up.