Did they have the right

The closest the US Constitution comes is in Article IV, Sec. 2, paragraph 3: "No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, But shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due."

Do you think the Dred Scott decision was rightfully decided, considering this paragraph? I do; even though the majority opinion by CJ Taney seems to give the wrong reasons.

 

Dred Scott was consistent with the laws of the era.

 

That's interesting. I didn't realize that.

I think the homework will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm exhausted. :sleeping_2:

 

Ok, I see. I myself am very interested in getting into re-enacting. It seems like a lot of fun.

 

Off the top of my head, I believe that General Robert E. Lee, General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, General J. E. B. Stuart, and General Fitzhugh Lee, were not slave owners. I believe their was more but can't recall. As far as the norh goes I don't know, but I think I read that Grant did.

 

Does make one question the "conventional" wisdom, does it not?

I just finished reading the article referenced in the Thoughts on "Liberal Education" thread, and this one
fact, of who owned slaves, just proves that the article is far more encompassing than a pastoral application!

IOW, logic AND common sense are either dead, or are so malnourished that they very rarely enter public discourse.

 

First off, just because a particular individual did not own slaves does not mean that the individual in question did not support the preservation of slavery. Equally, fighting for the South did not necessary mean support for slavery.

That being said, I highly doubt you would find many vocal abolitionists fighting for the South.

Some of the factor in play is state loyalty. As has already been mentioned, loyalty to the state was far more significant in the antebellum period. Even if you disagreed with the decision to secede, you were still a citizen of your state. Many individuals undoubtedly opposed secession while fighting for the Confederacy.

We have to remember how dominant the slave economy was in the Old South. Slavery was THE hot-button issue for national politics. (Consider the controversy in the Dem. Nat'l Convention for the 1860 election.)

It's not as if the South was fighting solely for the preservation of slavery; they were fighting for the right of self-determination, to be sure. However, central to this concept was the right to retain the institution of slavery as well as the ability to expand it in future territorial acquisitions.