It Wasn’t About Slavery: Exposing the Nice Lie of the Civil Battle

The Nice Lie of the Civil Battle

In the event you assume the Civil Battle was fought to finish slavery, you’ve been duped. 

In actual fact, as distinguished army historian Samuel Mitcham argues in his provocative new guide, It Wasn’t About Slavery, no political get together advocated releasing the slaves within the presidential election of 1860. The Republican Get together platform opposed the growth of slavery to the western states, however it didn’t embrace abolition.

The actual reason behind the battle was a dispute over cash and self-determination.

Earlier than the Civil Battle, the South financed a lot of the federal authorities—as a result of the federal authorities was funded by tariffs, which have been paid disproportionately by the agricultural South that imported manufactured items.

But, most federal authorities spending and subsidies benefited the North. The South needed a extra restricted federal authorities and decrease tariffs—the beliefs of Thomas Jefferson—and when the South couldn’t get that, it opted for independence.

Lincoln was unprepared when the Southern states seceded, and pressure was the one option to convey them—and their tariff cash—again. That was the true reason behind the battle.

A well-documented and compelling learn by a grasp historian, It Wasn’t About Slavery will change the way in which you concentrate on Abraham Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the trigger and legacy of America’s momentous Civil Battle.