# How do you explain poor whites who fought for the Confederacy?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-explain-poor-whites-who-fought-for-the-confederacy/617526>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 1, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-explain-poor-whites-who-fought-for-the-confederacy/617526 "2012-04-01T23:45:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-explain-poor-whites-who-fought-for-the-confederacy/617526/61 "2012-04-03T11:23:41Z")

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> [@Valteron](#):
>
> What emerges is a picture of a plutocracy masquerading as a democracy manipulating the poor to vote in favour of secession to protect rich men’s investment.

Hello world!

Good catch.  
Now, what other instances can you think of in recent history, where this phenomenon might apply?

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