Throatwarbler Mangrove.
I don’t know if it was so much a matter of “pretending”, so much as a consistent and explicit position that they would humor this “democracy” thing so long as it didn’t threaten their way of life.
But looking at the north’s part in all this: by enticing the south to join the union throught the three-fifths compromise and then enticing it to stay in the union through various other compromises anathematical to democracy, the northern states were just as fully engaged in the hypocrisy–until they felt powerful enough that they thought they could afford a direct confrontation. I think it was all about power, very little about “democracy”.
Michael Corleone: “We’re both part of the same hypocrisy, senator”
Just as well, in that both of them are ridiculous. The South fired first (and pursued battlefronts into Union territory), so the claim that it was a defensive war is nonsense.
The Confederate Constitution also did very little more to protect “states’ rights” than the US Constitution does and did.
I prefer “The war in which troops commanded by one of my Xth great uncles charged Cemetery Ridge, which was defended by troops commanded by another of my Xth great uncles.”
Barring that, popular convention calls it “The Civil War” and nothing is going to change that.
In French as well. It seems to me to be the most accurate name for it.
“The American Civil War” works fine; it’s not like we’ve had a multitude of them as of yet.
Q : “Why has there only been one American Civil War?”
A : “Amercans are rude. Ever try to get one of them to say ‘May I?’ before they kill someone?”
They did, in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:
If you’re asking why the North didn’t abolish it by legislation or as part of the Emancipation Proclamation, the simple answer is that under the Constitution, neither the Congress nor the President could do so.
The Dred Scott decision established that Congress lacked the power to abolish slavery. Slaves were property, and the slave-owners had the right to due process to protect their property rights.
As for the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln issued the Proclamation under his war powers as Commander-in-chief, which meant that it could only apply to areas in rebellion against the Constitution. Since Maryland, Delaware, NJ, and PA were not in rebellion, and in fact supported the Union in the war, the President had no constitutional authority to use his war powers in those states.
The war for slavery and treason.
The War to End Peace
The first of many reinactments.
The Troubles. (Yeah, umm…the Irish stole it from us)
Slight hijack. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened had the Confederacy not fired on Fort Sumter, if the southern leaders had shown the patience of Castro over Guantanamo. There would (presumably) been no war. The Dred Scott decision would have been null and void (since slave owners would have no standing to sue), the western territories would have been made free, the small pockets of slavery in the north would have disappeared, perhaps by something like the 13th amendment. After ten, twenty, fifty years, the secession would have become de facto accepted throughout what remained of the US. The south? Well, I don’t know, but when I took US History in college, the instructor (who was from Texas) opined that the south would have stagnated economically, stuck in a dying way of life. Perhaps, even asked to rejoin the union.
All idle speculation since we cannot rerun history.
As for the name, those who say it wasn’t a real civil war are right, of course. Neither was the Revolutionary War either revolutionary or a civil war. They were each wars of succession.
It is interesting to compare what happened in Canada where the leaders refused to join the states in the Revolutionary War (as I will continue to call it since that is its name). By the British North American Act of 1867, Canada received home rule. The Governor-General was still British, but a figurehead. Although he did disallow an act of parliament some time in the 1920s; there were riots and he had second thoughts. Finally, 1982, IIRC, Canada wrote its own constitution, the parliament in London approved it and Canada became totally independent of the British government (but the head of state remains the Queen). Governors-General are appointed by the Canadian government, even though they techincally represent the Queen, and do not sneeze without authorization from the Canadian government.
Works for me.
Either that or “The War that made Hollywood the most money till WWII came along.”
The War with a Long Pause. The South shall rise again !!
I don’t think that this is true at all. Lincoln had made it very clear that there would be no secession, and after his election, the writing was on the wall for the South to start preparing for war.
The attack was coming either way, and it would be best to take Ft. Sumter back now instead of when it was reinforced to the max.
Terrible Swift Sword Kicks Ass.
The Japanese name for it literally means The North-South War, which seems accurate enough.
(Actually it’s “South-North” but the order is not significant, that’s the usual word order when referring to north and south in any context.)
I don’t think the American Revolutionary War was exactly a war of secession. The American colonies weren’t “part” of Great Britain since they were colonies, that is, dependent countries, but separate countries from GB nonetheless. In fact, one of the Americans’ complaints was that they were taxed while not being allowed to send representatives to Parliament. They couldn’t elect MPs because they weren’t part of Great Britain.
It’s a nitpick, but I’d say that by the BNA Act of 1867, Canada was federalized. Home rule had happened earlier, in 1791, 1840 or 1848 depending on your point of view.
Are you talking about the King-Byng Affair? It wasn’t about a piece of legislation and I don’t believe it led to riots. On the other hand, much earlier in 1849, there were riots in Montreal after the Governor General, Lord Elgin, allowed an act of Parliament that was unpopular among Tories, the Rebellion Losses Bill. The riots caused a lot of damage, including the destruction of the Parliament building.
How is that pronounced?
The War that Established a Unified National Currency.