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Archiver > NCROOTS > 1999-05 > 0925572039
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Subject: [NCROOTS-L] Re: NCROOTS-D Digest V99 #227
Date: Sat, 1 May 1999 11:20:39 EDT
In reply to Stephen,
I think you did an excellent job of explaining a very difficult situation.
It is not easy for many people to believe that men and women would fight out
of duty to their "country" and not because of some other ideal. The south
fought very much in the way the colonies fought the Revolutionary War. The
politicians and those of wealth created the situation over the fear of losing
strength in Congress, much as the early colonists fought over no
representation in Parliament. Southern Congressmen and planters were very
much worried over losing the rights and privileges they had gained since the
Revolution. They saw themselves in the process of being "taken over" by the
northern states. The ordinary southern man loved his country, and as you
correctly said, his country was his state. This meant defending his country
against all threats. As the politicians spouted around that the north was
trying to take over the southern states, this instilled fear in the ordinary
southern man, who would do whatever it took to defend his nation. Sounds
very much like people today, people have not learned from their past, they
only repeat it -- all over the world. Marolyn
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