Defending
Slavery
The
white southern aristocratic community not only faced losing their workforce
come the war’s end, but they faced a whole new style of life. Since the beginning of America the African
American race had been looked at as an inferior race. Even the constitution writers had only seen
it fit to count each individual black as only 3/5ths of a person. In the article “Slavery’s Champions Stood at Odds” Christopher A. Luse examines the transition that the white
race had to go through in a post-slavery America. The article does not focus on the obvious
fact that whites still felt superior to blacks, but in a deeper context of
their “Conservative world view that they defended with their lives in a bloody
Civil War” (Luse pg. 379). Luse defends
the white man’s struggles with accepting the reality of freeing the slaves. The foundation of slavery was engrained in
their culture. It was the way that their
forefathers had intended for their country to be run. The South has and forever will hold on to
their culture and heritage more so than any other group of people in the United
States. Hence they from time to time are
referred to as a backwards people. This
is of course apparent in our modern elections.
The Republican Party, the more conservative of the two parties, always
controls the south in elections, whereas the more progressive Democratic party
tends to carry the more open-minded Northern states.
Not only was slavery entrenched in
the conservative view of Southerners but also in their religious beliefs. “Southern ministers proclaimed that
slavery was no sin, but a divine institution ordained by God as the foundation
of a Christian society” (Luse pg. 380). Religion especially at that time in a place
where such pride in their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was so prominent, it
would be easy to understand why they struggled with the concept of equality,
when they felt that it was religiously ordained.
Luse
gave a very interesting perspective into why white southerners struggled with
grasping freedom of slaves. We now see
so easily why it was wrong, and wonder how anybody could have that train of
thought. But if you can understand the
white southern culture of conservatism at the time, it becomes a much easier
concept to grasp.
Luse,
Christopher A. "Slaverys Champions Stood at Odds: Polygenesis and the
Defense of Slavery." Civil War History 53 (2007): 379-412.
The issue of slavery was the core of the conflict and the views of the Union states was that the institution was evil and immoral. However, the war was not solely based on slavery itself but the lifestyle and economic system that were centered around slavery. The southern men wanted to maintain masters of their kingdom and maintain their driving force in their agrarian society. They were defending not only their property (slaves), but also their beliefs and their way of life. Your analysis of the article and content mentioned in your post represents the truth and reality behind the civil war.
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