[geeks] I just saw...

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 @ 01:30 +0200, Geoffrey S. Mendelson said:

> On Sun, Nov 12, 2006 at 05:13:35PM -0600, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> 
> > How many lives would have been saved if it were possible? Granted, the
> > vast majority of them were white, but they still count, don't they?
> 
> The irony of it all was there was movement twoards the government buying
> the slaves, which would give their former owners money to hire them.

The other irony is that Jefferson Davis had a plan to convert them from
slaves to workers by giving them free education and also lessons in
American culture to help them assimilate.

The North vigorously opposed this, and it is part of the basis for the
5/8th rule which reduced the representative power of slaves, a move
which was done by Lincoln's close assocates.

It was primarly geared at reducing southern political power, by reducing
the amount of representation they got from their slaves.

The primary driving force behind slavery at the time was the massive
trade war that the soutern states were losing badly.

Without that pressure, much of it illegal and bordering on acts of war,
slavery would have been stopped anyway.

-- 
shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- ["There is no such thing as security.  Life
is either bold adventure, or it is nothing -- Helen Keller"]