[lbo-talk] US elections ( Michelle O, ma belle)

[Gar Lipow]

On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 6:08 PM, Dennis Perrin <dperrin at comcast.net> wrote:
> Gar:
>
>  Honest Abe felt that the war, among other things, might end slavery, but
>  again, that was not the reason that war was waged. It was felt that no major
>  power would allow its southern half to simply walk off and become a separate
>  nation. Southern secession put a serious crimp in plans for U.S. expansion
>  (going back to A. Hamilton, among others), and had to stopped, which it was.
>  Freeing the slaves was not one of the Rail Splitter's main concerns until
>  the war was well underway.
>
>
>  >I think Marx had a thing or two to say on this subject.
>
>  Yes -- the bearded one supported Northern aggression. :)
>
>
>
>  Dennis

All true. But also true is that the South would not have started the
war if they had not felt Lincoln's policies would have doomed slavery.
Dishonest Abe's policies were in a day to day sense very timid; but in
another sense, because they denied the Southern slavocaracy the near
absolute dominance they had over the American scene on issues
affecting their interests, those policies were also radical.