The last thing in the world desired by American liberals is racial harmony. It would put most of them out of work. So they do everything they can to keep the pot boiling.
HBO plans to come out with a new mini-series, Confederate, based on the premise that the South won the Civil War and still has slavery in the 21st century. A lot of people think this is simply more race-baiting; but the folks at HBO say, “Trust us, it’ll be real nice” (https://apnews.com/0e7beba6eea1404490720923932fb7e9/NoConfederate-campaign-against-HBO-slave-drama-takes-off). They do not offer us any reason why we should trust them.
Alternative history based on ignorance, for whipping up anger for political purposes–that’s what this is. In the exceedingly unlikely event that the Confederate states could have won their independence, and then kept it for another 150+ years, it’s even more unlikely they would have hung on to slavery. It would have been economic suicide, and would have deprived the new nation, outnumbered by its enemies, of millions of African-Americans who would have made good citizens, with much to contribute to their country. Besides which, even in 1865, there were many prominent Confederate leaders saying the time had come to abolish slavery: Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, just to name two.
But here the name of the game is to keep the racial grievance industry, dba the Democrat Party, in business. And that’s their only game.
It would serve HBO right if the ratings for this were in the basement.
That seems possible.
I’d be happy if no one watched this drivel.
One thing that seems to escape the notice of almost everyone is that from early in its history as a nation, the US began to move away from slavery, starting in 1800, when Massachusetts outlawed the practice. The movement grew and the holdouts were eventually defeated in war. No practical person could believe that slavery would have endured had the Confederacy ever won. They would have become increasingly marginalized for the practice and fallen so far behind economically that they never could catch up.
As mechanization took hold, the relative value of slave labor would have decreased and the cost to benefit ratio would have inverted, making it impractical. Beyond that, in spite of efforts to keep slaves uneducated, eventually it would be impossible to keep up the illusion that they were incapable of being more than field hands and domestic servants and their value in the job market would have exceeded their value as slaves. Once that happened, slavery would have collapsed as an institution.
I hate to think of the cruelty imposed by slavery, but I am pleased that the US took a stand and opposed it, even at the cost of many lives.
There were Southerners opposed to slavery, who wanted to abolish it, but who fought for their states against what they perceived as the growing tyranny of the central government.
Even had the South won–a virtual impossibility–slavery would have been abolished shortly afterward. It was slavery, after all, that kept England from aiding the Confederacy. The new nation would not have wanted to be a pariah.
It was definitely not the monolithic situation that a superficial study would lead on to believe. It was one of the most vicious and violent wars up to that.
The most eloquent and persuasive defender of the Southern position is Dr. Walter Williams–who is black.