[at-l] Civil War - Way off topic...

[shane@theplacewithnoname.com (Shane Steinkamp)]

> There would not have been a civil war had slavery
> not existed in the south. It was precisely over
> that "institution" that state sovereignty was being
> challenged and defended, with governments choosing
> sides almost exclusively based on whether slavery
> was legal in their state.

This is a common quip that isn't historically true.  It's
like saying that the Revolutionary War was about taxes -
which would ignore the 26 other points in the Declaration of
Independence.  I encourage you to read the historical
debates that led to Secession, as well as the documents of
the Confederacy as well.  While the slaves were freed, the
Civil War caused and allowed a tremendous expansion of the
size and power of the federal government. It gave us our
first federal conscription law, first progressive income
tax, first enormous standing army; it gave us a higher
tariff, and greenbacks.

> States don't have rights.

Neither do trails.  That's why people fight for them.

Shane