Did the future leaders of "The South" say if you can't beat them join them?

Question

what I would like to know is if Jefferson Davis and co. from the confederacy, may have realized fighting wasn't the answer and decided to join the union and take over from there. Just don't understand why so much oppression towards black people. Please no rants just intelligent answers.

Answer 1

In our schools were pretty accurate on history except we skew the American civil war slightly to make it sound better.

The war was mainly about the north taxing the south (as with most wars its for money and power), as they had good trade agreements with Europe. In the south less than 10% could actually afford slaves. The north took up the banner of freedom to gain support for their cause (it did end slavery so that was good though). And the majority of the south were afraid that the north was going to take away their land.

Considering the time the war was fought, the actions and thoughts of the leaders of the north, and how long it took for the civil rights movement to start, the north was not really fighting to help generate equality.

The point of the war was to keep to nation together so whether they agreed with it or not they were to stay apart of the union.

Answer 2

The reason slavery was on the agenda at all is because the South's economy relied on it. The only people bucking for abolishion on principle were the Quakers who were following the Church of England's example of getting slavery outlawed throughout the British Empire 2 generations earlier. The war was about centralization of power in Washington vs individual State power, the spark that set it off was the preferential trade agreements that the South had negotiated w. Europe and The Empire. Had abolishion of slavery or fair treatment of Indians been seen as important the US would have stayed in the Empire like Canada and Oz and abolished it much earlier.

The population and military of the South was 4 times less than the North so the outcome was never really in doubt. I believe Abe Lincoln had slaves himself, Thomas Jefferson earlier said Indians were animals to be hunted and destroyed as wolves!

Answer 3

To the Southerner's perception, it was about state rights verse federal government taxing, and telling the Southerners what they could do in their own state. Many of the leaders of the South were before the war, in the US Government system. Senators, congressmen, Generals, etc.