ForumsThe TavernWas slavery symbolic of the South?

12 3065
handlerfan
offline
handlerfan
185 posts
Nomad

I have recently seen a documentary by Ken Burns on the US Civil War. I wonder why John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln when the war was over. I imagine that General Robert E Lee thought this assassination futile and cruel. What had Lincoln done to deserve this fate? What had he done for Booth to proclaim 'sic semper tyrannis' [thus ever tyrants] as he did the deed? What had that nice Mr Lincoln done that was beyond the usual horrors of war? Was the South always going to react like this when it lost?
I've heard tales of people wrapping their bodies in the Confederate flag and taking their own lifes when the war was lost? Were the Confederate states full of such fanatics?
It got me to thinking that maybe slavery was one of many sins of the South. I am British. I am a neutral. I have little knowledge other than the slaves were freed which was a good thing. I imagine that slavery was a symptom of other evils. From Gone With The Wind I imagine that there were a number of rich white plantation owners, with many acres of land, in the South who expected the poor white farmers, who had scraps of land, to kowtow to them. So I ask was slavery symbolic of the South.

  • 12 Replies
Showing 16-15 of 12