That the Civil War was fought over slavery has become a central myth of the United States. It is, rather, more accurate to see the War as a profound repudiation of the nation’s founding in the War of Independence.
“We have no more right to meddle with slavery in Georgia than we have to meddle with monarchy in Europe,” proclaimed the Providence Daily Post on February 2, 1861. Abraham Lincoln had no objection to such an observation. In his fourth 1858 debate with Stephen Douglas, Lincoln declaimed: “I will say that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races…I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races, which I believe will forever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality.”
