This one was my favorite <iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FWYmEICNgOQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It is a compelling argument. Time recently made that similar argument that we have not gotten past the civil war. Based on some posts here and the leads they have generated, I would agree, but, a civil war, or a jim crow America or even a Reagan Morning in America could not have elected Barrack Obama. That would be my disagreement to America not having adapted to the Civil War.
That would be because of your false belief that the Civil War was fought over slavery. In reality it had very little to do with slavery, and Lincoln wanted to send blacks back to Africa after abolition. To be fair, perhaps it is one of your other personalities who believes that...
American Civil War from Wikipedia First paragraph: The American Civil War (1861â1865), also less commonly known as the War Between the States (among other names), was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America, also known as "the Confederacy". Led by Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy fought for its independence from the United States. The U.S. federal government was supported by twenty mostly-Northern free states in which slavery already had been abolished, and by five slave states that became known as the border states. These twenty-five states, referred to as the Union, had a much larger base of population and industry than the South. After four years of bloody, devastating warfare (mostly within the Southern states), the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was outlawed everywhere in the nation. The restoration of the Union, and the Reconstruction Era that followed, dealt with issues that remained unresolved for generations." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
From the Texas Declaration of Secession: "We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable. That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states. By the secession of six of the slave-holding States, and the certainty that others will speedily do likewise, Texas has no alternative but to remain in an isolated connection with the North, or unite her destinies with the South." http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/reasons.html#Texas
" But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one other-though last, not least: the new Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institutions-African slavery as it exists among us-the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution were, that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with; but the general opinion of the men of that day was, that, somehow or other, in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the prevailing idea at the time. The Constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a Government built upon it-when the "storm came and the wind blew, it fell. Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and moral condition. [Applause.] This, our new Government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. " Alexander H. Stephens, VP Confederate States of America
America escaped the ruling class for about a generation or two after the revolution but the $ speaks a lot louder than anything else now... education was in the hands of the private sector and was very religious until John Dewey came along... that atheist bastard started the long decline in education that is still underway...
There is an excellent article about the civil war in Time, and deniers that it was not fought over slavery. Did you know the whole bloody Kansas story? The shooting actually started in the Kansas territory. Artful Dodger gets smacked again.
Apparently there were many many union soldiers that were unaware they were fighting over slavery, until the Emancipation Proclamation. After which it's an historic fact there was much grumbling and complaining that they had no desire to fight for the slaves. They were primarily fighting to save the union. I'm NOT implying slavery wasn't an issue, it was in fact a big one. My point is how is it that someone actually alive back then and directly involved in the fighting wasn't aware he was supposedly fighting to abolish slavery? As an ancillary point its no secret that many in the union army had no affection for and little if any respect for the African slaves, while many were drafted, were all those volunteers fighting and dying to free slaves they didn't give a rats ass about? Again these are documented facts and feelings of those actually involved in the Civil war, as opposed to academics who cam along over a hundred years later.