# Why assume that only slave owners in the CSA could have been fighting for slavery? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 25, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-assume-that-only-slave-owners-in-the-csa-could-have-been-fighting-for-slavery/726164 "2015-07-25T16:26:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-assume-that-only-slave-owners-in-the-csa-could-have-been-fighting-for-slavery/726164/41 "2015-07-28T14:02:19Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > I think Lincoln’s POV was that if he didn’t save the Union, tyrants would use that to say that democracy doesn’t work and tyranny is the only effective answer. This to him would have been worse than slavery; better only some should be free than no one should be free. Lincoln [explained his point of view](http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/gettyb.asp) quite clearly… > [@](#): > > Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure… ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-assume-that-only-slave-owners-in-the-csa-could-have-been-fighting-for-slavery/726164/42 "2015-07-28T14:13:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It also cant be verified. Note that Foote, while a decent writer, was also a Southern Apologist. His hero was Nathan B. Forrest. To be fair, his heroes were Lincoln and Forrest. He has said more than once Forrest was morally reprehensible, Foote admired his courage on the battlefield and his ability to lead men. But yeah, I read the trilogy and noticed a general Southern bias. I don’t know if I’d go so far as Apologist. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-assume-that-only-slave-owners-in-the-csa-could-have-been-fighting-for-slavery/726164/43 "2015-07-28T14:57:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > In the event, when American slaves were liberated, they took no violent reprisals against their white neighbors – perhaps because they had absorbed Christian morality to a greater extent than had the Haitians, perhaps because there were white and black Federal troops all over the place at the time, most likely a combination of the two. You’re overthinking it. The reason there were no reprisals was because American slaves had been emancipating by legislation not by an uprising. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-assume-that-only-slave-owners-in-the-csa-could-have-been-fighting-for-slavery/726164/44 "2015-07-28T17:34:00Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > To be fair, his heroes were Lincoln and Forrest. He has said more than once Forrest was morally reprehensible, Foote admired his courage on the battlefield and his ability to lead men. > > But yeah, I read the trilogy and noticed a general Southern bias. I don’t know if I’d go so far as Apologist. I say Apologist, but, yes hardly Neo-Confederate. Foote also seems to ignore that while NBF was a great cavalry raider, he was actually pretty crap as a commanding General, other than Brice’s Crossroads. Mind you, even I have to admit that the CSA Cavalry raiders were critical to the early successes, and NBF was one of the top three or even top two. Battle of Tupelo,Battle of Franklin, Third Battle of Murfreesboro, etc all showed he really only knew how to do one thing- but he did that one thing very well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-assume-that-only-slave-owners-in-the-csa-could-have-been-fighting-for-slavery/726164.md?page=2)