Letters: North wasn’t trying to end slavery

Those who believe that slavery was the sole cause of the Civil War would do well to read historian Marc Egnal’s Clash of Extremes, a lengthy critique of that “idealistic” interpretation of 1861-1865 that maintains that the war was the result of Lincoln and the North’s “passionate opposition” to and “the equally fervent Southern defense” of slavery. Since the recently furled Confederate States of America flag was supposedly a symbol of slavery, racism and oppression, Professor Egnal’s views provide a needed corrective to modern myth.

To quote Egnal: “Few Republicans advocated ending slavery except in the distant future. Party members roundly rejected abolitionist demands for immediate action. Moreover, most Republicans (like most Northerners) were racists and had little interest in expanding the rights of free blacks. Indeed, many Republicans advocated free soil and a prohibition on the migration to the West of African Americans, free and slave. “

This story was originally published August 3, 2015 at 7:37 PM.