Quote Originally Posted by denuseri View Post
Well as fun as it to speculate about what ifs: to think that the War wouldn't have happened and everyone would have gotten along peacable is obviously not something that had a chance, both sides depsite any attempts to the otherwise by some individuals who were few and far between did indeed go to war over and becuase of the main issue that divided them.
Agreed. It does seem that the war was inevitable. But the "what ifs" are a lot of fun. One of my "guilty pleasures" is reading Alternate History, basically, "what ifs". Harry Turtledove did a very good series of books on "what if" the Confederacy won the war and remained an independent nation. Pure speculation, but a lot of fun!

Additonally... I think the decendents of those who were slaves (not to mention their ancestors who were in fact enslaved whose effort to have their freedom eventually did pay off) would naturally be appalled that people are still around today who would suggest that the people who were enslaving them should have been allowed to blithely continue to do so.
Well, being of Slavic descent, my ancestors were once slaves, too. At least as far as the Romans were concerned. And yes, I too am appalled that anyone can still believe that enslaving other people is a good thing. But we have to be careful of judging people in the past based on our modern interpretations of morality. Enslaving people now is obviously wrong, though there are still some who do so. But in the past, in many cultures, slavery was not only acceptable but an economic necessity. Who are we to judge those cultures? Just remember, in another thousand years people will be looking back at us and wondering just what made us so damned silly!