Were the Confederate States the good side all along and the union states the bad side all along during the civil war?

[Anonymous]

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+1 y

The south vs The north American civil war

[BCA6010]

The south was in the right on many issues, but not all- slavery being the most prominent example.

The Union was essentially failing at living up to the expectations of the people who formed the country in the first place. The federal govt had effectively failed to secure the southern border as it had promised Texas when it joined the union, and never repealed the taxes imposed on the south to pay for the war with Mexico even after the debts were paid. Additionally, the strong opposition to Lincoln's election is very skewed in history classes- you have to remember that less than 10% of the southern population had anything to do with slavery, so for most, the unrest was for other issues. A major one was that Lincoln didn't even appear on the ballot in almost all southern states since he failed to acquire enough signatures (Virginia was the only exception IIRC), yet he was basically forced on them as president (at least in their eyes).

Lincoln himself as well as most of the rest of the Union were hardly the civil rights-loving liberators that they are portrayed to be, and actually thought the freed slaves would all go back to Africa after the war. (This did happen to a limited degree).± In fact, northern racism was so extreme that most of the black population that initially tried to move north ended up going back south where they found paying work as farmhands and laborers, which were in high demand for obvious reasons and these were skills they already had, as opposed to working the more industrialized factories. Lincoln's real success lay in setting the groundwork for reconstruction in a way aimed at building a stronger nation rather than ravaging the south as retribution, which is what many other politicians (who were more directly responsible for the war in the first place) actually wanted.

In fact, the Union's post-war treatment of the black population shouldn't really have been a surprise, and likely wasn't at the time. They used the colored regiments as expendable cannon fodder during the war, and they aggressively conscripted immigrants practically straight off the boats (mainly from Ireland) into the Army. Racial and ethnic animosity was just as high all over the country regardless of which side in question, but the Union gets sort of a free pass because it won the war, and didn't practice institutionalized slavery.

So, you want to know who the bad guys were? The same people as always: the ones with more power than they should have, and the ones who thirst for more than they did have, and they fought (or delegated) on both sides.

[Rangers]

That all comes down to views, it'll be nearly impossible to find a non biased comparison online or anywhere for that matter. What I will say is that blacks are playing right into Confederate propaganda and it needs to stop or people will continue to see the Confederacy as the good guys

[MackToday]

The confederates were actually neo fudalists who we crypto monarchists they had medieval ideas at their core. They wren't the white nationalists they are portrayed as although I think neo confederates are probably pretty based.

[meesegoMoo]

Only to idiots. The Southern states definitely had the better fighting force and strategy. The lack of centralization was their downfall.

[tartaarsaus]

You may want to rephrase the question to “Is slavery a good or bad thing?”.

Every decent person would say that it is a bad thing and that therefore the Confederacy sucked

[NorthwestRider]

A typical blue anon

Why the heck slavery is a good thing?

[Twalli]

No. Also it was only The Cuvil War because the north did not accept the secession and won the war.

[bangyourhead]

The practice of slavery is inherently evil.

[DWornock]

Yes.