[Hugh R]

Joe

In all fairness to Fastpat, I think one of his points is very valid, which is that the victors write the history books. I've read some of Jefferson Davis' book "The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy" I inherited a 1st edition, and he makes interesting points about slavery being protected by the constitution, it was, and it was a states rights issue at the time. Also, if the Emancipation Proclamation "freed the slaves" then what was the need for the 13th amendment? Of course slavery was wrong, looking back today, but that doesn't necessarily mean the history books paint a true and accurate story of the what existed at that time. Davis cites numerous cases in his autobiography about the North (Federal Gov't) going to the Supreme court to overturn slavery and the courts repeatedly refusing to hear the cases because they had no standing, and directing the congress to amend the constitution, for which they couldn't get a 2/3 majority. The North repeatedly blockaded the southern ports trying to economically compel the southern states to ban slavery, because they couldn't legislatively ban slavery. You don't read that in text books in high school.