U.S. Civil War question

[Human_Action]

@Little_Nemo

It’s easy to say that now when opposition to slavery is virtually universal. But I have strong doubts it would have been the libertarian position back in the 1850’s.

Libertarians have always taken a strong stand on property rights - and that was the same stand slave owners were claiming. Abolitionists were the equivalent of the people who want to criminalize drugs or firearms - they wanted to make it illegal to own a certain type of property. And, of course, libertarians are strong opponents of these current movements to criminalize property.

So I think if libertarians had been around in the 1850’s, their position would have been “If you’re opposed to slavery, don’t own slaves. But don’t force your beliefs on the people who do want to own slaves.”

The cornerstones of libertarianism are voluntary association, political freedom, and individual liberty. These are not reconcilable with slavery.

If libertarians had been around in the 1850’s, their position would have been that slavery was a monstrous evil. What means they’d advocate to deal with it would vary greatly, everything from invasion to passive non-compliance.