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<blockquote data-quote="Alan" data-source="post: 219010" data-attributes="member: 12333">Dave,I agree. The only state right they were worried about was the continuation of slavery. With the loss of slavery would come the loss of the economic engine of the south. The people in power (most being slave owners) were able to convince the masses that the states rights to this economy were being violated thus allowing them to recruit the army needed. Most of the common soldiers were not slave holders but saw the war as protecting their state from the aggression of the federal Government. People need to understand the feelings at that time. You were not from the United States you were from Virginia, Pennsylvania etc. You really need to understand that mindset to understand the common soldier and what drove him. And even when Lincoln freed the slaves it was only in states in rebellion. That was a political attempt to get them to rise up against their owners and fight for the Federal government. In all of this it is lost that there were free blacks that owned black slaves. In fact one of the first court cases in the colonies was a free black who was given back a &quot;servant for life&quot; who had claimed he could not be owned.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Alan, post: 219010, member: 12333"] Dave, I agree. The only state right they were worried about was the continuation of slavery. With the loss of slavery would come the loss of the economic engine of the south. The people in power (most being slave owners) were able to convince the masses that the states rights to this economy were being violated thus allowing them to recruit the army needed. Most of the common soldiers were not slave holders but saw the war as protecting their state from the aggression of the federal Government. People need to understand the feelings at that time. You were not from the United States you were from Virginia, Pennsylvania etc. You really need to understand that mindset to understand the common soldier and what drove him. And even when Lincoln freed the slaves it was only in states in rebellion. That was a political attempt to get them to rise up against their owners and fight for the Federal government. In all of this it is lost that there were free blacks that owned black slaves. In fact one of the first court cases in the colonies was a free black who was given back a "servant for life" who had claimed he could not be owned. [/QUOTE]

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