tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post2210285533796809705..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: Lincoln, Slavery, and Quotes Out of Context.Alonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-50341493446587903152017-09-07T10:40:56.904-06:002017-09-07T10:40:56.904-06:00You are correct that "the north fought to hol...You are correct that "the north fought to hold the union together" argument is consistent with "southern states succeeded because they thought that slavery would be made illegal".<br /><br />However, making slavery illegal requires opposition to slavery. Or, at least, the strong belief on the part of the South that there were people trying to make slavery illegal implied that there was enough people with enough power opposed to slavery to put the institution at risk.<br /><br />The hypothesis that the North only cared about holding the union together, and cared nothing about slavery, is inconsistent with the fact that the North could have kept the union together by making slavery legal everywhere. But their desire to keep the Union together did not seem to allow for this options.<br /><br />"Opposition to slavery" has to be in there somewhere. And, more importantly, the leaders of the Confederacy had to strongly believe that there was genuine opposition to slavery, and not just a desire to preserve the Union.Alonzo Fyfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-80189290088787834392017-09-07T08:04:25.174-06:002017-09-07T08:04:25.174-06:00"Apologists for the Confederacy use this to a..."Apologists for the Confederacy use this to argue that Lincoln was not opposed to slavery"<br /><br />In my experience, most people who post the Lincoln quote do so not to suggest Lincoln was fine with slavery, but rather in the context of a discussion over why the Civil War was fought. Their claim is that the North fought to hold the union together, not to end slavery. (This can be true even if many southern states seceded largely because they thought slavery would be made illegal.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com