The Greatest President ever?
I recently visited several Civil War blogs and only one have I had an argument with. Brooke Simpson has a blog called 'Crossroads' and he is one of those New England (historians you might say) who believes the South was entirely wrong and the North was entirely right. He refers to the Southerners who believe the war was a result of anything other than slavery as Neo-Confederates and we are all ignorant rednecks.
I attempted to discuss the war with Mr. Simpson in a polite way, but he refused to talk unless I agreed with everything he wrote. He then said that he didn't recognize me as a student of his and therefore I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. He asked me in a nice way to leave his blog by saying "thanks for stopping by" and therefore since I'm from Alabama, I'm an ignorant redneck. He is correct by assuming I'm not one of his students. I have over 400 books on the War Between the States and I'm no "ignorant redneck" as he believes.
He asked me to prove in my blog that the war was over something besides slavery. Mr. Simpson has led readers to believe he has a doctors degree. He even has to correct one writer with the fact that he has a masters degree. I have only three years of college and yet I can assure Mr. Simpson that I have read far more books than he has on that war.
Here is my side of the argument. I will not lower myself to the level of saying I don't believe slavery had anything to do with the war, yet unlike Mr. Simpson, I won't try and convince you that the war was entirely over the holy North waging a war against the South because slavery was wrong. As a Christian I believe slavery is wrong and would never own another human being. I have enough common sense to know that the war was fought over much more than slavery. If the war was fought over slavery, then someone needs to explain to me why 190,000 blacks fought in the Confederate Army.
If money had nothing to do with the war, then someone needs to explain the tariff issue to me. The arguments over tariff's had begun in the early 1800's. In 1828, the Tariff of Abominations was passed through Congress. Things began to heat up and in 1832, Congress passed another tariff that was intended to calm South Carolina, but it was too little, too late. South Carolina declared these tariff's null and void according to the Constitution of the United States. The constitution gave the Federal government the right to regulate commerce, coin money and defend the national boundaries.
As soon as the Southern states left the Union (a right that had been taught at West Point in 1828), the United States Congress passed the Morrill Tariff. Passage was possible because many low-tariff Southerners had left Congress after their states declared their secession. The Morrill Tariff raised rates to protect and encourage industry and the high wages of industrial workers. Two additional tariffs sponsored by Morrill, each one higher, were passed during Abraham Lincoln's administration. The high rates of the Morrill tariff inaugurated a period of continuous trade protection in the United States that lasted until the Underwood Tariff of 1913. In its first year of operation, the Morrill Tariff increased the effective rate collected on dutiable imports by approximately 70%.
According to Mr. Simpson the above had nothing to do with the war. It is just a coincidence that the passage of a high tariff occurred during the war while the Southern Congressmen were absent. But, let's see if slavery really ended with the defeat of the South in 1865 as Mr. Simpson would want you to believe. Here is a quote from wikipedia on slavery. "A few captives from other tribes who were used as slaves were not freed when African-American slaves were emancipated. Ute Woman, a Ute captured by the Arapaho and later sold to a Cheyenne, was one example. Used as a prostitute for sale to American soldiers at Cantonment in the Indian Territory, she lived in slavery until about 1880 when she died of a hemorrhage resulting from 'excessive sexual intercourse'."
So, in the New England world of ignoring what really happened in this nations past the above never happened. The South, along with the American Indians deserved what they got because they did not bow down to the almighty Federal government. According to Mr. Simpson, money had nothing to do with the war and because I'm not one of his students, I have no idea what I'm talking about.
