1. Corwin Amendment (Would have forever made it illegal to abolish slavery) https://heritagepost.org/america.../the-corwin-amendment/The Corwin Amendment - “No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.” The only reason this amendment was not ratified by the states is the war started. The representatives of several Southern States refused to vote on this and it still passed!!!!!! http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/.../john-c-fremont.../
2.Lincoln Countermanded Gen. Fremont's orders and returned emancipated slaves to their owners in Missouri. Lincoln in the end fired Fremont. A good background story here--- John C. Frémont and Missouri - mrlincolnandfreedom.org
3. There were slave states in the Union AFTER the South seceded and they had more than 429,000 slaves. (1860 Census) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_states_and_free_states Slave states and free states - Wikipedia At the start of the Civil War, there were 34 states in the United States, 15 of which were slave states. Eleven of these slave states, after conventions devoted to the topic, issued declarations of secession from the United States, created the Confederate States of America, and were represented in the Confederate Congress.[26][27] http://mercystreet.lunchbox.pbs.org/.../slavery.../Slavery and the Civil War | Behind the Lens: A History in Pictures | Essays and Photos Courtesy of The Burns Archive | Mercy Street | PBS According to the census of 1860, the total population of the thirty-four states and eight territories was close to 31,500,000. There were no slaves in nineteen states, and only two in Kansas and fifteen in Nebraska. Four million slaves inhabited 15 states and territories. Delaware held 1,798; Maryland held 87,189; and Virginia the most with 490,865 slaves, owned by 52,128 slaveholders. There were 3,181 slaves in Washington, D.C. Generally, it has not been recognized that in Southern states, along with the 4 million slaves, there were about 400,000 free African Americans. While they did not have equal rights, many were successful business people and some were extensive slaveholders themselves. https://communityliteracy.org/what-states-allowed.../ The slave states that stayed in the Union, Maryland, Missouri, Delaware, and Kentucky (called border states) remained seated in the U.S. Congress. By the time the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, Tennessee was already under Union control.
4. https://www.archives.gov/legis.../features/west-virginiaWest Virginia was admitted into the Union during the war as a slave state. West Virginia Statehood, June 20, 1863 | National Archives The West Virginia Constitution was ratified by voters on November 26, 1861. In May 1862, Senator Waitman T. Willey (Unionist-VA) submitted a bill, S. 365, to Congress for the admission of West Virginia to the Union. He then proposed an amendment to the bill calling for West Virginia to amend their constitution to include the gradual emancipation of slaves in the state. On July 14, the Senate approved West Virginia’s admission to the Union, with statehood conditioned on its approval of the Willey Amendment. The House approved the bill in December. Lincoln signed the bill admitting West Virginia to the Union, on December 31. On March 26, 1863, West Virginia ratified the revised constitution to include the gradual emancipation of slaves. President Lincoln proclaimed that West Virginia would officially be recognized as a state on June 20, 1863.
5. Crittenden-Johnson Resolution said it was not about slavery. The Crittenden-Johnson Resolution – The Civil War Months https://civilwarmonths.com/.../the-crittenden-johnson.../ “That in this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those (Confederate) States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.”
7. 8. Nothing in the Official Records: War of the Rebellion says one word about slavery being the cause of the war. If you desire you can check for yourself-------- https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records
8. President Jefferson Davis said, "We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence, and that, or extermination." I have already posted this quote by Davis, If anyone missed it and wants a repost just ask.
9. LONDON TIMES 7 NOVEMBER 1861: “The contest is really for empire on the side of the North and for independence on that of the South.” The Government liberates the enemy's slaves as it would the enemy's cattle, simply to weaken them in the coming conflict....The principle asserted is not that a human being cannot justly own another, but that he cannot own him unless he is loyal to the United States. London Spectator on the Emancipation Proclamation https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm...
10. "We were not fighting for the perpetuation of slavery, but for the principles of States Rights and Free Trade, and in defense of our homes which were being ruthlessly invaded." -- Moses Jacob Ezekiel, Jewish Confederate from Richmond, VA, from his memoirs https://ultimateflags.com/.../jewish-confederates-free.../
11. Jewish Confederates and the “Free Air of Dixie” ULTIMATEFLAGS.COM Jewish Confederates and the “Free Air of Dixie” In March of 1865, a Jewish Confederate Captain Samuel Yates Levy wrote his father from a Union prisoner of war camp, “I long to breathe the free air of Dixie.” Many Jewish Southerners rallied to their states and sacrificed their lives in battle. It was probably the largest ethnic group to serve...
12. Lincoln said, "Why not let the South go in peace?" Lincoln replied: "I can't let them go. Who would pay for the government?" There are many variations to the quote here is what I have found doing research---"What then would become of my tariff?" Abraham Lincoln. This question by President Lincoln has been lately looked for by several of this board and lost to memory, below is where it originated and where it is referenced. Mr. Seward, of the peace-faction, sent Allen B. McGruder, as confidential messenger to Richmond, to hold an interview with Mr. Janney (president of the convention), Mr. Stuart, Col. Baldwin, and other influential men of the ruling "Union party." Mr. Seward said that secrecy was all important, and while it was extremely desirable that one of them should see Lincoln, it was equally important that the public should know nothing of the interview. Col. Baldwin responded to the invitation, since, though one of the ablest men of the convention, he was known personally to but few in Washington, having never served in Federal politics. He repaired to Washington as soon as possible, went in a closed carriage to Seward, and from there, in his company, to the White House. But in this short time the policy of the administration had. undergone a change. Seven Republican governors of Northern and North-eastern States representing the " stiff-backed " clique had descended on the government, and won the victory over Seward and the rest. With the ignorance of the South, which I am sorry to say is still prevalent with many Northern writers, they represented to Mr. Lincoln that the people of the South were not in earnest; that all their speeches, resolutions, and declarations of resistance were but a "game of brag;" that Virginia and the Border States would never leave the Union; that it would ruin the North to have a free-trade people to the South of them; that it would be but an easy job to conquer the cotton States, etc., etc. Mr. Lincoln, who had vacillated between the parties, found the combined pressure of office-seekers -and tariff-men too much for him; and when Col. Baldwin arrived he had gone over to the stiff-backed men, bag and baggage. But Mr. Lincoln gave him a most private interview, and the latter quickly dispossessed him of his erroneous impressions regarding the intentions of the Border States, who looked to Virginia as their leader. Lincoln's native good sense, under the influence of Col. Baldwin'^ evident sincerity, immediately grasped the truth. He clutched his shaggy hair, as though he would jerk out handfulls by the roots; he frowned and contorted his features, exclaiming: "I ought to have known this sooner! You are too late, sir, too late! Why did you not come here four days ago, and tell me all this?" turning almost fiercely upon Col. Baldwin. Baldwin replied: "Why, Mr. President, you did not ask our advice. Be sides, as soon as we received permission to tender it, I came by the first train as fast as steam would bring me." Lincoln rejoined: "Yes, but you are too late, I tell you, too late!" Col. Baldwin pleaded the question with him as he never did a case on behalf of a client in jeopardy of life. One* single step would be sufficient to paralyze the secession movement. This was a simple proclamation, repudiating the right of coercing sovereign States by force of arms, and to rely upon conciliation to bring them back into the Union, as had been the course pursued with respect to Rhode Island and North Carolina in 1790. It was a contradiction to suppose that any State would voluntarily abnegate Union except under conviction of real wrong. The question of the Territories had no such importance in the eyes of the Border States to urge them into secession, but coercion would be universally considered the casus belli. Lincoln seemed impressed by Baldwin's eloquence and solemnity, and asked: "But what am I to do meantime with those men at Montgomery? Am I to let them go on?" "Yes, sir," replied Col. Baldwin decidedly, "until they can be peacefully brought back." "And open Charleston, etc., as ports of entry with their ten per cent, tariff? What then would become of my tariff?'' This last question he announced with such emphasis as showed in his view that it decided the whole matter. Memoir of a Narrative Received of Colonel John B. Baldwin, of Staunton, Touching the Origin of the War. By Rev. R. L. Dabney, D. D. The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Lyon G. Tyler, Richmond, 1885. The Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. I, Jan. to June, 1876. Jefferson Davis, by Armistead C. Gordon, 1918. William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine: Vol. 27, Page 224, 1918 Lives of Distinguished North Carolinians, 1898 The New Republic: Vol. 17, 1918 Confederate Veteran: Vol. 25, Issue 10, 1917
13. Lincoln said, "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery." Found in many places on the webs, choice your favorite source... Here is just one......https://www.learningforjustice.org/.../first-inaugural...
14. Lincoln said, "We didn't go into the war to put down slavery, but to put the flag back; and to act differently at this moment would, I have no doubt, not only weaken our cause, but smack of bad faith." https://www.americanheritage.com/slaves-freed... Near the middle of the page.
15. Lincoln was a racist. He didn't care about Blacks and make many statements that reflect his racist views. In the EP he made it clear freeing the slaves' was nothing more than a war measure.
The false illusion of the war being about slavery came about with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation which freed not one slave. It was a war measure designed to cause a slave insurrection in the South, which never happened, and to give the impression to Europe that the U.S. was waging a humanitarian campaign so that France and England would not render military aid to the CSA.
Another thing; the very act of the South seceding dispels the myth that the South was trying to "extend slavery to the western territories". By leaving the U.S., the South cut itself off from any right to those territories.
