The American Civil War

[LadyFlynt]

Please also consider that the majority of ppl lived in the North. Therefore you are speaking of a much smaller, therefore less diverse, group of ppl.

 

[Herald]

Originally posted by lwadkins
Having been a lifelong northerner and educated with the traditional understanding of the Civil War, I have come to the conclusion (on my own and with much study) that the war absolutely was about federalism vs states rights and its to the detriment of our country that we as a country did not embrace the states right position. We are seeing the unfortunate results of rampant federalism in our country now. Slavery was just one of the many issues tied up in the propagana surrounding the war.

The ideal does not the reality make. The continental United States could not have remained separated. The United States was not Europe (a continent of connect-the-dot nations). The dynamic here was/is different. I have long held the opinion that there was no way a separate Confederacy and United States government could have co-existed. Forces (economic, societal, familial, religious etc.) would have forced a reconciliation. The south could not compete with the industrialized and more populated north. The north would not allow a separate south. Any negotiated peace would have been broken.

I support strong state rights. But it is the nature of government to over step its bounds. Human government is always about power. Power is born of greed (or is it the other way around?). How much autonomy should a state have? There is no consensus on that. Eventually a greater force will win out. And while our system of government is far from perfect, our fifty states have (arguably) more autonomy than other nations.