I was just reading American Public High School Stories: A Microcosm by amittiaz. I got to the reply by Runaway Serfer which said ;“This is why I think Lincoln made a huge mistake. If he had declared victory, and told them, "go ahead and have your Confederate States, only build it with your own sweat and tears and not those of your slaves," the United States would have been much better off - and Lincoln would likely not have been assasinated. “ and I'm thinking to myself “do what?”. Well, let's look at a part of American history that is often untaught in our schools. The 2, 13th Amendments to the Constitution.
We all are familiar with the current and 2nd 13th amendment to our Constitution. The amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States, passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House on January 31, 1865. On February 1, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the state legislatures. The necessary number of states ratified it by December 6, 1865. The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
The 1st 13th Amendment was passed by the House on February 28, 1861 and the Senate on March 2, 1861 and sent to the state for the required majority for ratification. This amendment read “No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of such State”.
Shortly after the passage of the 1st 13th Amendment President Lincoln supported this 1st 13th Amendment a couple times. First during his first inaugural address quoting what he told the New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley; “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”
Later during the speech he said “I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution -- which amendment, however, I have not seen -- has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.”
(Speech viewable at http://www.nationalcenter.org/LincolnFirstInaugural.html )
To back up what he said, on August 22, 1861 Lincoln explained himself by saying “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps save the Union.”
So Runaway Serfer's wish that Lincoln would have abolished slavery, not fight the Civil War, and let the South go, is not based on history. Lincoln was not the great savior of the slaves. While he may not have personally liked the idea of slaves he was content with the practice of slavery being constitutional, and supported the amendment that would have made it so. Revisionist history says the Civil War was fought over slavery. It was not. Slavery was an issue but the the cause.
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Like the past or not, we can't change it, only acknowledge it and learn from it. The only failure from a past action is not learning from it. It may not have been correct or successful, but it is history, our history.
Lincoln and the north seceded and fired the first shot? Who is revising history?
By the way, technically Lincoln was dead and buried when the second 13th was ratified. We will never know if the necessary number of states would have ratified it if a Southerner hadn't murdered Lincoln, because one of the first things Lincoln did after declaring victory was bring the CSA back into the Union - which, in my humble opinion, was Lincoln's big mistake.
Not freeing the slaves, but taking the southern states back into the union. They - including North Carolina - are a drain and a burden. They take more tax $$$ than they pay and complain, complain, complain about us "west coast libruls." They, literally and figuratively, bite the hand that supports them.
@RunawaySerfer, your ignorance is showing. Lincoln never brought a single state back into the Union. Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. Tennessee was the first state readmitted to the Union, after ratifying the 14th amendment, and that was done in 1866 under Andrew Johnson.
You clearly have no idea what you're talking about, so I suggest visiting the history department of your local university for a more thorough education.
BTW, congrats on your history.
I'm being challenged in another answer to someone about the fact that the Imperial Army of Japan build and occupied military bases on U.S. land during WWII.
This kind of stuff is out there for all to see, if they had an interest and just looked. While I'll give the people a slight pass, those who publish the history books, no.
I am not a WASP so this is in no shape, way or form a racist statement. The way I interpret this bit of history is that the South chose to secede from the Union peacefully, the North led by Lincoln wanted to keep the Union together therfore declared war on the South. It is in fact a war of Northern agression, and no I did not grow up in the South nor am I from the South
You are correct and win the prize of the day, whatever that is. The Civil War was fought over the Morrill Tariff Act.
Prior to the Civil War the United States got about 95% of it's income from import/export tariffs. During the 1850's the south accounted for between 72 – 82% of the total U.S. exports. The vast majority of that was cotton and tobacco to Europe.
A recession started in about 1857. In May of 1860 the Congress passed the Morrill Tariff Bill, named for a Vermont Congressman and steel manufacture Justin Morrill, which raised the tariff to 47%.
With the election of Lincoln the talk from South Carolina and the gulf states to secession increased. Lincoln endorsed the Morrill Tariff and promised to enforce it even on seceding Southern states.
On April 4, 1861 Lincoln met with Colonel John Baldwin, a delegate in the VA Secession Convention. Lincoln told Baldwin at that meeting that he had already committed to military action at Fort Sumter. Baldwin also told Lincoln that if he let things go that the South would soon rejoin the Union. Lincoln however, responded “What would become of my tariff?”
On April 12, 1861, with the the words and actions of Lincoln and the North, the South was provoked into firing on the flag at Fort Sumter, SC. Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the “rebellion” of the Southerners. The start of the war.
Thanks for coming by.