Slavery itself was a complex issue. It could easily be argued that it was in its death throes by 1860. In the north as in the south small farmers did not employ slave labor. Slavery was abolished on a piecemeal basis in the north but it never had the agricultural base that it did in the south. However, if slave labor were economically efficient I have little doubt that it would have been employed more extensively in the north's factories. The waves of immigrants pouring in after 1848 depressed the labor market and employers were only responsible for the wages paid and could low-ball that as much as they liked. Slaves, expensive to buy with international slave trading outlawed, had to be fed and housed. The Uncle Tom's Cabin image of cruel slave owners abusing slaves is picturesque and great propaganda but slaves were important economic assets. How many people buy a car and beat it with a baseball bat? The truth of the matter is that in 1860 if you were a slave on a plantation or a factory worker living six to a room in a fire-trap tenement life pretty much sucked.
Still, I've read a lot of CW soldier's journals and diaries and listened to their songs. What is clear is that slavery was not a big topic of discussion on either side. The union soldiers were fighting to stop "treason." The Rebs were fighting for their "rights." What "rights" the Rebs thought they were being deprived of is the basis of the question.
Still, I've read a lot of CW soldier's journals and diaries and listened to their songs. What is clear is that slavery was not a big topic of discussion on either side. The union soldiers were fighting to stop "treason." The Rebs were fighting for their "rights." What "rights" the Rebs thought they were being deprived of is the basis of the question.
