mwoerl wrote:mammon worshippers, huh? whoa-what a zinger! dude, im just rollin'! hey-what would the fans of the good ole csa think of all this? i guess as long as you didnt consort with -um- you know-those people-itd be ok, huh?
mwoerl
again, assumptions get you nowhere. I usually prefer not to talk about my Southron (yes that is the correct spelling from the ante-bellum south) heretige and culture on this board, but since you brought it up......
I would point out that General Robert Edward Lee freed the slaves he inherited from his father in law at great personal expense to himself. The expense came because, unlike Lincoln, Sherman and the other blue devils, he didn't freel the slaves hoping they'd all get out of sight. He gave each slave family a tract of land, built them a house, and gave them a mule and a plow. That may not sound like a lot, but back then that was a good deal of money. Notice this is not a sharecropping system, designed to continue the oppression of the former slaves. Lee was not obligated to do this, but felt it his Christian duty to do so (he was an Episcoplean).
General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson did the same. In fact freed slaves often chose to ride with his brigade and fight for him. He was a Presbyterian Minister.
Now I am not particularly agreeing with all the religious sentiments of these folks, but it hardly fits to even sarcastically call them mamon worshipers.
Of course this would be an apt description of those that invaded the south. At the time of Secession the south was making up some 80 percent of the tax base for the US. Federal Budget (which was completely financed by tariffs at this time). When the South seceeded, the north was upset (obviously) but why? because they were loosing their precious money. NOt only were they loosing the south's tax money, but new england mercantilists lost the cotton from the south (which started selling to England almost exlusively) and the money from the Lucrative slave trade (which made more than a few new england families quite wealthy).
Nicholas Zollars