What do you think was the Southern States biggest mistake of the Civil War ? - General Discussion Discussion

[–] TandyMan (11349) 2 years ago

No industry. A problem that could have been cicurmvented with the right alliance with foreign nations. But the US put the stomp down on that diplomatically pretty hard.

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[–] PaladinNJ (21781) 2 years ago

That was the intention of the Emancipation Proclamation. England and France were contemplating taking the South's side but then couldn't do that when the North made freeing the slaves a priority in the war.

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[–] Keelai (36155) 2 years ago

Supporting slavery. Their goal was evil. Bad guys ultimately lose.

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[–] Quasimodo (16388) 2 years ago

But slavery supported their economy. No slavery no prosperity.

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[–] Keelai (36155) 2 years ago

Prosperity for rich plantation owners.

Many white Southerners were poor. Also, a growing number of family farmers could no longer compete and were forced to sell their farms to plantation owners thereby becoming tenant farmers on their former land.

Unlike the North, there were no public schools and fair taxation. Only tariffs paid disproportionately by other than the rich. Political representation and voting favored the rich.
Antebellum South = oligarchy

https://networks.h-net.org/node/11465/discussions/4297558/poor-whites-antebellum-us-south-topical-guide

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[–] moviechatterer (16326) 2 years ago

"No slavery no prosperity."

they could try working for a living

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[–] LogicalLeftist (869) 2 years ago

this is the elite/rich bro. exploiting others labor has always been their MO

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[–] jriley555 (8551) 2 years ago

As said, waging war in the first place, when the issue wasn't really in front of them. There must have been a perception that the time was right, for some reason, but objectively, there was no provocation commensurate to the response - rebellion. They may have well thought they had the right, but in no way had sufficient reason, apparently also misjudging the willingness of the North to confront & oppose them to the end.

Along with the eternal seam of race, it also exposed the seam of national vs regional & state supremacy. We're still largely fighting both battles today.

It is an example, in short, of people winding themselves up past all reason.

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[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

the southern states didn't kill lincoln. it was a small cabal of southern sympathizers.

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[–] PaladinNJ (21781) 2 years ago

That turned out to be the worst thing they could have done. Lincoln was going to be a lot more compassionate than what ended up happening.

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[–] chilidoggg (14601) 2 years ago

and that's it in a nutshell: bad decisions.

Who thought it would be a good idea to stop shipping cotton to England, so that England might intervene on the side on the Confederacy?

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[–] GolfnGuitars (3117) 2 years ago

For those responses regarding the "agricultural nation" vs "industrial nation" argument...that's a valid argument and some solid points were made.

I'm not a history teacher or anything like that, but I was taught that Gettysburg was really the turning point in the War and that the South "could've/would've/should've" won it. Not having Stonewall Jackson for that battle really hurt The Confederacy. If The South win at Gettysburg, then they probably win the War. However, they didn't...and it was a crushing loss for the Confederacy. I think Lee himself realized that the South would never win the War after it.

Yes, The North had the industry...but The South had the generals, though (for the most part (Meade wasn't awful and I think Sherman & Grant were great). Had the Confederacy had Stonewall Jackson for Gettysburg...who knows what would've happened?

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[–] ShogunofYonkers (78598) 2 years ago

I’d say you are mostly correct, most of those Rebel boys were born warriors, they grew up hunting, camping and exploring the areas where many of the big battles happened. A lot of the Union boys were city folk, recent immigrants, store clerks, dock workers and so on…they knew nothing about the forest and the trails.

But there is no military response to thousands of conscripts a month, The South lacked manufacturing, rail lines and manpower.

The South was doomed from
the start.

They were very tough fighters, there is no doubt about how tough those Rebel Boys were, but there were very few factories and only a tiny Navy backing them up. That the whole mess lasted so long is a testament to how tough those Southern Rebels were.

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[–] GolfnGuitars (3117) 2 years ago

ShogunofYonkers, I've really enjoyed reading your posts on this topic. You are obviously well-read and have studied Civil War history for sure!

I had an excellent 8th-grade History teacher who had a real passion for the Civil War. I do agree with you that it definitely was a sad, awful time in our country's history. And yet, I find it all to be so fascinating. I loved Ken Burns' documentary "The Civil War" and listening to Shelby Foote's stories about the Confederacy. It's so interesting, IMO.

Looking back, I think my teacher tried to make two points to us. One, it was bloody and not an "easy war" by any means (It's amazing to think that there were people sitting on picnic blankets watching the First Battle Of Bull Run). Second, even though I do agree with you that the South was really up against it in the long run...they did have a shot at "winning" the War. A couple of things go differently...and who knows?

I still need to make a trip to Gettysburg at some point. I've been all around that part of the country, but never have been directly in Gettysburg. I hope to make it there one of these days.

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[–] ShogunofYonkers (78598) 2 years ago

Thank you, kind words. I’m a bit nerdy about history.

That Ken Burns doc was a masterpiece, he’s got a few more history series I still need to watch.

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[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

States rights.
Did not allow them to unite.

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[–] bond998 (1213) 2 years ago

Thinking Slavery is Cool.

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[–] chilidoggg (14601) 2 years ago

Eight generations of inbreeding

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