New Hope for the Culture of America

[hacker15]

Originally Posted by Brickboy240

Hacker,

The reason we in Texas call it "the War of Norhtern Aggression" is because in the true definition of a "civil war" it says this is a conflict between two factions that want control of one country's govt.

What happened in America in the 1860s was a group of states wanting to be FREE of the American govt. - not take it over.

Also, this gets overshadowed by the slavery issue (why, I do not know...only 4% of southerners actually owned slaves), but many reasons the Southern states wished to secede were very similar to the reasons the Colonists fought the British: trade issues, taxation, states rights, oppression and restrictions. Self-styled historians will make everyone think that slavery was the main reason for the war...this is simply not true.

General Robert E. Lee never owned slaves and was against the practice. General Grant owned slaves right up to the time Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclimation. Somehow, this little nugget ALSO gets left out of history classes these days.

Big difference, if you ask me.

It was NOT a "Civil War"

- Brickboy240

PS: I have ancestors on my father's side that immigrated to TX from Ireland in the late 1850s to help the Texans fight the Indians, Mexicans and the Yankees. A tough, unruly bunch, no doubt!

Brickboy - I fully understand the meaning of the "War of Northern Aggression" - the North INVADED the South, not the other way around. Another interesting fact (one you left off) was that Lincon, when running for the Presidency, proclaimed the absolute RIGHT of any state to secede from the Union. Once in office, he sort of "backtracked"....

Another point - when the Constitution was being ratified, the LAST state to agree was NEW YORK. The sticking point? The right to secede from the United States if there ever came a time when the Federal government aims and wishes transgressed state requirements. Once this was "granted" (on the assurance that the states had this right as was built into the Articles of Confederation which were, by implication, extended in the Constitution), New York proceeded to ratify the document.

And, I have ancestors buried at just about every battlefield from that dreadful conflict - on both sides of the "fence". Mine (on my fathers side) came over from Hanover in 1768, settled in PA and went both North and South (everywhere from MS to MA). After the war, some moved West, so I have a few isolated relations in TX and AZ.