Secession

[redcliffsw]

Sure (true) history is interesting.  The Confederate army consisted of many races
and it was integrated.  A black man told me that his Confederate grandfather
fought for the Constitution as a slave.  The grandfather wanted to keep the country
as right as it should be.

[Diane Amberg]

If he was still a slave, I suspect he didn't have a choice.  But then again, there were free blacks at that time too, and also blacks who owned slaves themselves. You do know that for a long time in order to vote you had to be a white male Protestant land owner at least 21 years old? That's where "free, white and 21" came from.
  As much as I appreciate how it all finally turned out, the framers of our constitution were a bunch of elitists too. They kept a lot of people down, because they thought they knew better. You have to plow through the Madison Papers to get a real sense of it. Some states added the ability to read as part of the voting regs. too. Thank goodness that has all changed over the years.

[pamsback]

Most of the Cherokees and others fought for the Confederacy because they hated the US government.

[srkruzich]

ople down, because they thought they knew better. You have to plow through the Madison Papers to get a real sense of it. Some states added the ability to read as part of the voting regs. too. Thank goodness that has all changed over the years.

Actually i personally believe we would be better off if only property owners were allowed to vote, or lets go with taxpayors.   Give everyone 1 vote then, For every 1000 in taxes you pay out every year, and that means you have to write a check to the irs on april15 not get a refund, then you get a extra vote for every 1000 dollars.  That would make it so that the politicians would have to knuckle down and not cater to the entitlement vote.

[srkruzich]

If he was still a slave, I suspect he didn't have a choice. 

Not true, they did have a choice.  They were offered freedom to fight for the confederacy. They were not forced. IN fact Nathan Bedford was commander of one of the largest black regiments in the confederacy.  HIS men volenteered.  They earned their freedom and stayed in the south and on the plantations.  Your going to find that if the truth were ever to be taught in the school system that the whole concept of slavery was a boogie man in the war.  Common sense dictates that because it wasn't ever brought up til the north started losing the war in 1863-1864.  Lincoln  had to turn the northerners back onto his side again cause they were against the war about that time, and to do so he had to find a cause.  So he chose slavery.  INteresting since he owned slaves and never freed them.   Whats more interesting is Robert E Lee never owned slaves and when he married his wife, he released all of her families slaves before the war.   He was a abolitionist. 

Slavery was coming to a end anyway.  The south was growing and becoming more powerful and the feds decided to suck more money out of the south, and the south just said enough was enough.  States rights is the only reason the south went to war. 

[Diane Amberg]

Yes, some black slaves were offered their freedom if they fought for the south, that is correct.   Uh, if that political side was never taught, then why do I know about it?  Politics was a big deal then too. I know a number of presidents did own slaves at one time or another, but I didn't think Lincoln or his wife did.

[srkruzich]

Yes, some black slaves were offered their freedom if they fought for the south, that is correct.   Uh, if that political side was never taught, then why do I know about it?  Politics was a big deal then too. I know a number of presidents did own slaves at one time or another, but I didn't think Lincoln or his wife did.

That was one regiment of black soldiers. Most of the black soldiers fought for the same ideals of the south.  That is what isn't taught in the schools.  These same blacks didn't fight for their freedom from slavery although a good many weren't slaves.

Lincoln owned slaves as did his wife.   And slavery did not end with the emancipation proclamation. The proclamation was only for the south.  The north still used and owned slaves long afterwards.

[greatguns]

Would you care to share where you got your information?  Thanks.

[Diane Amberg]

Steve, after the slaves were "freed," there were some who choose to stay right where they were. Not every slave owner was mean to them as is so often pictured. The ones who were happy where they were stayed put. If this wasn't taught, how would I have known about it years ago?  In my own family, according to family history, one brother fought for the north and the other for the south... That must have made for some interesting dinner table conversation! I have a series of old books about the civil war, has lots of Brady photographs, I'll have to pull some out and take a look again.

[Wilma]

Diane, I am especially interested in Lincoln owning slaves.  As poor as he is purported to have been, how could he have afforded slaves to own and support slaves?