Why do people keep saying that the civil war was fought for the sole purpose of abolishing slavery?

Question

Isn't that historically inaccurate? What I was taught in middle school was that the slaves were freed as a war tactic in an effort to weaken the South. The war itself was fought because the South wanted to secede from the union...right? So why do people keep saying that the Union soldiers fought and died to free the slaves?

Oh--and incidentally, this is NOT a racially charged question; I'd just like to know for the sake of knowing. And for all of you who plan on disregarding this statement and lecturing me anyway...

I'm Jamaican, so if I wanted to blame someone, or ask for my five-dollar reparations, I'd have to ask Queen Elizabeth; not G. W. Bush. So please; don't waste valuable answering space with your angry, opinionated banter. Just answer the damn question.

As for everyone else, I'd like your input. :)

Fish, what the hell are you talking about? How the hell would 200,000 white Union soldiers risking their lives on the sole basis of abolishing slavery provoke me to use the "race card"? Your response makes absolutely no sense. If anything, the proposed beliefs illustrated in my question would be used in an argument AGAINST the ideals of reparation. I'm sorry, hon; you're not thinking hard enough.

Everyone else, keep up the good work.

Well...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so rude. But that doesn't make my point any less valid.

See now, I'm trying not to be rude, and I get stuff like this. Charles W., I could've sworn I just wrote an entire paragraph about people's opinionated banter. What're you doing? Your response is as historical as a box of jellybeans. I'm talking about the causes of the civil war, and you're being bitter about stuff that happened 200 years ago. The South lost. Use your agrucultural skills and find some trees to build a bridge and get over it.

Silversurf88...why...? Why take this path? You and Charles...I won't even include fish. Right now, fish is minding his own business. But you...first of all, I'm from New York. I love the Yankees. Yankees are great. The South tried to secede for a stupid cause, and would've collapsed for the same reason the Union said it would. Sovereigns govern over provinces. The states had too much power. End story. As for Great Britain--heh--you wanna know how they ended slavery? There was a big slave revolt in Jamaica, and they were driven out for a spell, then came back and hanged, whipped and burned over 400 men, women and children alike. Then came the riots, then came the negotiations for the abolition of slavery, around the same time as the civil war. And even after that, Jamaica didn't gain its independence until a loooooong ways afterward. Do not bring up 19th century England and their humanitarian policies in my presence. Please.

Trying to insinuate that whites are taking credit for freeing slaves? What in the world?

"NOT a racially charged question"

You raise a few good points which have nothing to do with the question; but at the end of your essay, the fact remains that slavery was neither the sole or main objective of the civil war. Regardless of whether or not your family fought on both sides, or your journals, or whether or not Union soldiers were against slavery, they went to war to preserve the union...which is why it's called the civil war and not the freedom war.
Yes; PEOPLE keep saying this. Which people? The people who happened to be in the room when the topic arose. If EVERYONE kept saying it, then I would have asked "why does EVERYONE keep saying this?" And if I knew so much about the situation, I wouldn't have asked in the first place.

And INCIDENTALLY, I rattled off where I was from because I didn't want any LONG WINDED speeches about things that have LITTLE TO DO WITH THE "?".

Answer 1

Slaves were offered freedom as a tactic. The south believed it could leave the Union and was correct. The Union invaded, killing many innocents and instead of continuing with uncounted civilian deaths and burning of cities, the armies of the Confederacy formally surrendered.

Honestly, I grew up having a strong dislike for everything Yankee. The Union was the agressor and IMHO, had no right to invade the Confederacy. I do not support the idea of slavery, but still dislike the idea of anything Yankee. Yankee ranks up there somewhere a point or two beyond the worst insult I can imagine. I still remember fights over the word Yankee. (them thar's fighting words..you might laugh, but no one wanted to be called that)

Slavery would have naturally ended anyway, according to most experts without the Civil War. Some contend that the economic burden of the Civil War may even have made the lot of the slaves worse because everyone was going through economic hardship after and during the war, especially in the south. The slaves became poor sharecroppers and essentially did the same thing after the war that they did before...with one exception. They likely ate less and there was the issue still of discrimination. It is a shame slavery was not simply ended by an act of law instead of an act of war.

If you want to compare it to a more modern equivalent, look at other countries like Great Britian and how they ended the slave trade. You could even consider the collaps of the Soviet Union...a normal political change brought about by mostly economic pressures.

Answer 2

You are almost correct. I just heard or read the other day that Lincoln always had a problem with the idea of slavery and that was the reason he issued the EP.

Now, yes the southern states seceding from the union started the war, but why did the south want to secede?

There were many economic problems between the North & South. The Northern states were industrialized and prosperous while the south was not. This imbalance of wealth and influence created the division.

Great Question.

Answer 3

The south was afraid that the North would abolish slavery thru the Fed. Govt action and thus destroy their way of life. You see, the south depended on slaves as there wasn't enough ppl to work the fields after Eli Wit created the cotton gin. The slaves made the south rich by free labor. England backed the south for its cotton. I am a member of the org. called Children of the Confederacy and am a true southerner. But I don't agree that the institution of slavery was right. Some of my ppl will say it was a states rights issue but that is dodging the true evil of what caused the states rights crisis. It is dishonest not to believe slavery was the cause of the war. I personally belief it was Gods judgment on this country for proclaiming to be a nation under God and yet be so stained by the evil of slavery.

Answer 4

When you throw out a loaded question like that then cap it off with, "Just answer the damn question", what kind of reactions do you think you're going to get?

You referred to your middle school class.Teachers in general can editorialize or rewrite history in order to tailor their teachings according to their own agenda. Perhaps your teacher had motivations behind that as well, and diminished the importance of both sides. I've seen it happen from grade school to college.

Is it historically inaccurate if "people keep saying" it? To some degree, yes, if that is truly happening, because there were more factors involved in this war than just the issue of slavery. Read above some of the other informative posts you received. Largely, it was an economic war and slavery was a huge part of that. This is not to say that there were NO members of the Union who deplored slavery and thought that its time had come to an end.

Your question was this: "So why do people keep saying that the Union soldiers fought and died to free the slaves?" That's quite a generalization you're making there. What "people" are you referring to? And who keeps saying this? Are you trying to insinuate that whites are trying to take credit for the release of slaves? This is news to me!
Families fought against families, brothers against brothers. Some of the slaves who were freed from the South became allies to the North.There were many underground operations going on that were directly affecting the media & military. There was so much going on during this time that I just cringe when I hear these trite remarks.

And, incidently, since we're rattling off where we come from: I'm a member of the DAR, so I had to do my homework on this subject. Many of my family members/ancestors came from the South, including my mother. There were members from both sides of my family who fought TOGETHER in the war from BOTH sides. There were also members of the same family who split and fought against each other. Our family still holds journals that trace back to events during this era.
Perhaps you should do some of your own reading just to get a better grasp on what happened.
Happy reading.

Answer 5

The real theme of the civil war was states rights vs. federal authority. The Confederacy wanted a loose union of different states (for example, Florida and Alabama would have been practically like separate countries). The Union in the North wanted to preserve the union, along with federal authority over all of the states. Slavery was really more of an emotional issue, and it was on the verge of dying all by itself, even if the Civil War had never been faught.

Answer 6

It's a handy way to bring the racism card into the discussion and try to insist that all whites are the devil.
The South believed individual states were independant nations that could secede at will,and no longer wanted the influence of the north in their personal matters.Slavery was one of those matters,but not the only one.And slavery was already dying out in the south.The North freed the slaves ONLY as a way to influence foreign opinion away from helping the south.

Answer 7

to the victor go the spoils the civil war was fought over taxes levied by northern politics north was induristal south was agriculture south was getting a raw deal so they seceded from the u.s.a. when war broke out the south kept beating the north they were getting tired of lousing so Lincoln had to find something to get the people to stand behind him so slavery became the prim issue little do people know that slavery was already a dieing issue in the south between freed slaves and pecker woods their was plenty of cheap labor around but the north won so they wrote the history like the wonted good day

Answer 8

You're right, the civil war was not started due to slavery. It was started because the south was wanting to secede from the union due to heavy taxation on the products the south produced. It was first taxes then the seceding then the slavery came into play. The union soldiers were fighting to keep the country together and not to free slaves.

Answer 9

I like your final comment. The south did want to secede from the union because of the laws that were being passed. The abolishion of slavery was one of the main laws that the southern states didn't agree with. They decided they wanted to make their own rules and so we fought. I like to think all the soldiers died in that war fighting for the honor and freedoms they believed in, not just to abolish or keep slavery. All the men who died in that war deserve our respect as Americans.

Answer 10

Yes, I agree with you that the issue was largely political.

the northern politicians lined up against slavery were hardly commited to the moral arguement against it. But he political wranglings over the issue did precipitate the war.

The southern slaveholder mentality was much like the republicans today. They believed the central government violated their rights by telling them what they could do. States rights and decentralized government were their rallying cries.

These days it's still states rights and decentralized government to allow corporations to exploit cheap labor and trample the environment without any interference from government.

If you distill this philosophy into a single word it is called greed.