Cause of the US Civil War

For John, BLUF:  In a nation where half the young folks think the Holocaust is a myth, we can't expect a lot of nuance regarding the origins of our Civil War, a war the Federal government is trying to erase from memory.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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New York Times' Nikole Hannah-Jones tweets the North didn't fight to end slavery in Civil War

From Fox News, by Reporter Lindsay Kornick, published May 24, 2022, 5:24pm EDT.

Here is the lede plus two:

New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones claimed on Sunday that the North did not actually fight to end slavery during the Civil War.

On Saturday night, Hannah-Jones tweeted out a quote from her controversial 1619 Project that argued that Black people "posed a danger" to the United States' perspective of itself and therefore led to the inhumanity brought by White America.

"Black people posed a danger to the country’s idea of itself; they held up a mirror into which the nation preferred not to peer.  So the inhumanity visited on Black people by every generation of white America justified the inhumanity of the past and the inequality of the present," Hannah-Jones tweeted.

Reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, tweeting with the tribute handle Ida Bae Wells, said, on 22 May 2022

How silly. The South fought to preserve slavery, the North fought to preserve the Union. Basic history.

That actually makes sense.  Candidate Abraham Lincoln didn't run in 1860 to abolish slavery, although he was a free soiler.  However, that stance was seen as a long term threat to the Southern economic system.

The controversy over Presidential Candidate Nikki HGaley's ressponse to a question regarding the cause of the US Civil War sparked this item from NPR on 28 December

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is facing significant backlash after failing to mention slavery as a driving force behind the Civil War during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

At an event on Wednesday, a voter asked Haley: "what was the cause of the United States Civil War?"

She replied that the cause "was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms, and what people could and couldn't do."

"I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are," Haley continued. "And I will always stand by the fact that, I think, government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people."

Actually, not a bad answer on Candidate Haley's part.  The claque may not like it, but it is as good an answer as most, and shows some nuance.  However, good move by the Democratic Party to try and derail a Republican Candidate.

For Lincoln it was about preserving the Union.  Like the foolishness of the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor, and Germany then declaring war on us, the South played into Lincoln’s hands by attacking Fort Sumpter.  Silly rabbit. Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff