Unhelpful High School Teacher

Except for Haiti which had an unsuccessful slave revolt I know of no other country that participated in the African slave trade that had to fight a war to end slavery. Not Canada, the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, I could go on all them ended slavery without a war. The US civil war was fought because the southern states wanted to secede from the Union (which is exactly what the original thirteen colonies did but since they won that was considered just.) Also, if the Civil War was about ending slavery how do you explain the "border states"? These states were Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, and Missouri. All of these states were slave states that did not secede and stayed loyal to the Union. So if the war was about slavery why did these slave states stay in the Union?

Enlightened yet?

Sounds good.
Now the purpose of making this meme?

Enlightening smug morons

Are you trying to suggest that telling the truth needs some purpose other than that?

I just had a meme template and commented on your meme.
I didn't mean anything by it.

... and in the end, Natalie revealed that it was all a troll.

... perhaps to bow out of a flame war wherein Natalie seemed outmatched ... but a troll nevertheless.

Well played ... well played, indeed. ;)

Show me in my comments where I insighted a flame war? You crazy maniac.

... hmmm ... you're a funny person but not too quick when it comes to reading comprehension. I was amused that the originator of the meme seemed to be flaming up on you ... to which you replied "I didn't mean anything by it". Not sure how you construed my comment to mean that you instigated anything other than the multiple Civil War lessons. But ... you know ... hugs and kisses?

Oh are you quoting him? I don't get it. I wrote this week's ago. Sorry.

Delaware had already effectively abolished slavery decades before the Civil War; while still technically legal, the sale, purchase, or importation of slaves was banned and by the beginning of the war only a few dozen "indentured apprenticeses for life", the state's legal term for slaves, still existed. It should be noted however that Delaware authorities had a reputation for harshly enforcing runaway slave laws; that the state held a secession vote (it failed over the governor's objections); that a not insignificant number of Delaware residents fought for the Confederacy in the war; and that Delaware voted against ratification of the 13th Amendment, which banned slavery.

Kentucky declared official neutrality at the outset of the Civil War, but after a failed attempt by Confederate General Leonidas Polk to take the state of Kentucky for the Confederacy, the legislature petitioned the Union Army for assistance and after early 1862 the state was effectively under Union control. In Kentucky, more than any other state, the scenario of brother against brother played out, with large numbers of men fighting on both sides. Kentucky citizens also formed a Confederate "shadow government" which existed throughout the war, and the state was actually admitted to the Confederacy in late 1861, becoming the center star in the battle flag.

President James Buchannon, Lincoln's predecessor, understood the very real threat of Maryland's secession and filled the state with federal troops. Maryland was economically and socially divided, but was overall more opposed to abolition than for; Lincoln won only 2.5% of the vote in the state in 1860 and approximately a quarter of all Marylanders who fought in the Civil War did so for the Confederacy. I will also note that the state song "Maryland My Maryland", written during the runup to the war, includes lyrics urging Marylanders to "spurn the Northern scum" and "burst the tyrant's chain" - in other words, to secede from the Union.

Virginia did secede secede, becoming the 8th state to join the Confederacy, and for most of the war the Confederate capital was in Richmond, from May of 1861 until just before the city's fall in April of 1865. Perhaps you were thinking about the northwestern counties that themselves seceded from the state to form West Virginia?

Missouri sent armies, generals, and supplies to both sides, was represented with a star on both flags, maintained dual governments, and endured a bloody neighbor-against-neighbor

(continued) war within it's borders. About a third of all Missourians who fought in the war did so for the official Confederate army, many more fought in local militias against the Union army occupiers and were known as "bushwackers".

Fair enough good info, however it still doesn't answer the original question: Why was the US the only country to fight a war to end slavery if that's what the war was actually about?

As to why other countries didn't fight wars over abolition, for most of them slavery just wasn't that big a deal; they had fewer slaves per capita and regional economies didn't hinge on slave labor. Others were ruled by strong monarchies at the time of abolition; the king said it and the debate was over. Some, like the South American republics, did fight a war for independence and when the new constitutions were written slavery was outlawed.

What was the Civil War about? That's a complex question, but the short answer is that the Union and Confederacy were fighting for different reasons. After Lincoln, a Northerner, was elected over Southern appeaser Douglas, slave owners had an irrational fear he would take away their slaves. Compare and contrast to the irrational fear many firearms owners feel about Obama taking away their guns. The states that seceded did so primarily to preserve the institution of slavery; indeed they gave up many "states' rights" to join the Confederacy, including the right to outlaw slavery within their own borders. The articles of secession written by all of the Confederate states specify the continuing imposition of slavery as the driving force behind their secession, their new state constitutions all guaranteed it, as did the Articles of Confederation (the equivalent of a constitution), and Confederate leaders expounded the need for slavery to continue as an economic model.

The Union, by contrast, was fighting to preserve the Union, since legally there was/is no basis for a state to leave the US. Lincoln was no abolitionist, and if he could have preserved the Union without freeing a single slave he would have done so. The Emancipation Proclimation was more a pragmatic wartime measure than an ideological statement since legally speaking the large numbers of slaves escaping their masters as the various Union Army units swept through formerly Confederate-held territory were still property, and the Army was legally required to return said property to it's owners as per the Fugitive Slave Act. By issuing the Proclamation Lincoln was simultaneously absolving the Army of an onerous duty, putting pressure on militias in the Confederate heartland by encouraging slave revolts, and allowing the former slaves who could make it to Union lines to join in the Union war effort.

Wrong. Brazil had more slaves than any other country and still ended it without a war. Everything else you said is pretty sound though.

Brazil was a monarchy at the time of abolition.

My point is they didn't have to fight a war to end slavery.

As to your first paragraph, vast swathes of Africa and in many areas throughout Asia (e.g., Russia, the Middle East, India, Thailand, etc.) had and - some could make the argument via indentured servitude, sex trafficking, religious zealotry and warlord oppression - STILL HAVE SLAVES. It seems ironic that Western countries that at one point had and have since abolished slavery are castigated while other countries that not only used to and still do practice slavery but did/do so in ways that would qualify as war crimes seem to get a free pass. One obviously doesn't justify or negate the other ... just an observation of the blatant hypocrisy that is propagated by college-aged morons and their professors that focus more on gender studies rather than world history.

To your second and third paragraphs, I can agree with you in a certain sense but far more than the concept of slavery was concerned, the Civil War was fought for economic reasons as much as if not more than the slavery. Lobbying interests shifted economic power away from the Southern states by favoring Northern goods/products and focusing on railway expansion (which represented Lincoln's political backers/donors) from which the Southern states suffered. This cronyism and nepotism occurred then much as in contemporary America (to our collective detriment). This led to an attempt at succession ... which the North could not allow ... and to which we all know the outcome. Slavery was no doubt a factor - a big factor perhaps - but it wasn't Lincoln's primary or even secondary goal, as you rightly pointed out. I should also point out that your phrasing "... allowing the former slaves ..." is a bit of a stretch in the context of historical documentation. It would be more accurate to say that "the vast majority of former slaves were conscripted into the Union military force" due, as you again rightly pointed out, to pragmatisms and politics.

In the end, because Americans - and most other Western nations/cultures in general - agree that slavery is a social evil, it has been widely banned and is now illegal. Meanwhile, it occurs in countless other countries around the world the shock and outrage of surprisingly few.

I'm confused as to your point. Are you saying that the Civil War wasn't about slavery (see my other posts)? Perhaps, based on some of your other posts, you are arguing that it was about slavery but a war to end it wasn't needed?

Either way ... I enjoyed reading all the comments your meme inspired. One doesn't often have intelligent conversations when the goal was to simply create some spread the lols and revel in the keks. Kudos!

I've said the same thing to people and all I get back is a blank stare. And the Haitian revolt you speak of was just that; a revolt. It wasn't a civil war. To the person who asked "what's the purpose of the meme"...to get people to think about what they're being indoctrinated with ie. the civil war wasn't about free black people but rather enslaving every American into a system controlled by the federal government. Hello?!