The Confederacy was a con job on whites. And still is.

[Clash City Rocker]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/article136803208.html

This is a great summary of how racism has long been used to convince poor white people to give everything over to the wealthy, yet feel that they are somehow benefiting.

[GulfCoast66]

1. Calling BS on this article. I'm a white southerner with a family that has been here for 350 years

There is this myth that there were 2 types of white southerners. Big plantation owners with hundreds of slaves and poor yeoman farmers who could never afford one. That is bullshit. There were lots of small scale slave owners in the south. My family was one.

Most confederate soldiers fought with the hope that when the south won they would be able to move to new western states and have their own slaves. And many of the already owned a few. And had the south won they would have had their wishes fulfilled.

This idea of the poor misguided white southerner is based on 2 post civil war constructs. The most prevalent being that most whites were not responsible for slavery. That’s the one that predominates although it is bullshit. Poor whites supported slavery because there was a real chance they could eventually own a slave.

The other is trying to see slavery thru a Marxist lens where you only have the oppressed and oppressors and non-slaving owner whites were oppressed. Equally as much bullshit. Actually more disgusting because it gives a total pass to the whites who did not yet have a slave. Even though they were willing to break up the nation for slavery.

[uponit7771]

4. Only 32% of people in the south owned slaves (link)

https://www.history.com/news/5-myths-about-slavery

I do agree it was their live style that was in danger too but that was mostly Q Qrap spouted by conservatives in that century

[GulfCoast66]

7. 'Only' 32%? A third. You reinforce my point.

32% of southerns were not living in huge plantations. Like now they were the 1%. Most slave owners owned a couple and wanted more.

And a good bit of the south geographically made owning slaves less profitable. The hilly areas of East Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia did not lend itself to slave based agriculture. Remember before the civil war West Virginia was part of Virginia. But slavery was not viable in valleys due to the lack of productivity and the fact cotton did poorly there.

Owning a slave was within reach of most southerners and desired by most.

The argument that poor whites were victims is re-writing history to excuse most whites of the evil of slavery. I’m the descendant of slave owners. They were not rich plantation owners.

[czarjak]

2. LBJ knew the long game.

[uponit7771]

3. It was religion and media outlets that got poor white people to think they were fighting for their

... best interest.

It had to be, no rational person would think fighting for Bezos right to own slaves would benefit them mostly in the end

[JI7]

5. Stop viewing white racists as victims

[GulfCoast66]

8. Amen.

[modrepub]

6. To Me This Is One Angle That Seems Under Explored

There certainly was a lot of division within the general populace about succession. Certainly the large slave holders who held the political power in the slave holding states supported succession but the rest of the population was probably not completely sold on the idea. It's also interesting that the thoughts of the slaves themselves, who in some parts of the south made up a significant portion of the population, are almost never considered.

The unexpected length of the war itself seems to fall into this same category. The canned historical version is the South had better leaders, which is a load of crap in my opinion. Yes the Union had plenty of poorly placed commanders but the South had their Hoods (incompetent) generals also. Both sides suffered from poor organization on the military and economic side.

I think historians have long discounted the contributions that slaves made to the South's war effort. Without their manpower and productivity, the South would probably not been able to put up an organized resistance to the North's invasion. Lincoln recognized this aspect and eventually issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Slaves were already fleeing to Union armies to escape their predicament before Lincoln issued the proclamation. This just put it out as a formal policy.

[appalachiablue]

9. Good points and well said