RE: [DL] Freeing the Slaves

["Mr. Christopher McGlothlin, M.Ed." <sosentinel@adelphia.net>]

At 12:38 AM 8/1/2002, Mr. Mark Chiddicks wrote:
>If the Confederate government freed the slaves except in the direst need 
>they would be seen as betraying their own people. Whatever southerners say 
>about the war being fought over States Rights we all know that the Right 
>that they were talkinga bout was the right to hold slaves!

         No, and any thorough reading of history (especially the 
first-person history) puts this to the lie. Slavery mattered to the less 
than 10% of Southerners who owned slaves; the rest were concerened with 
other issues, primarily defending their homes and families.
         Read Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson's 
authoritative _For Cause and Comrades_. McPherson's made a career burying 
the South, and even he agrees that very few Southerners were motivated to 
take up arms to defend slavery. The book will open any reader's eyes.

Deo Vindice,
Mr. Christopher L. McGlothlin, M.Ed.

Educator & Freelance RPG Writer
Member, Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design
Moderator of the New Gamers Order Listserver

"Look upon me! I'll show you the life of the mind!"
--Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), _Barton Fink_