First, some stats:
- The war accounted for about as many casualties as all other American wars combined
- It killed 10% of all Northern males aged 20-45
- It killed 30% of all Southern white males aged 18-40
- There were 620,000 total casualties for both sides
It is interesting to note that while the conflict lasted for four years in the 1860's, the main issue at stake had been the center of controversy since the very founding of the United States. This issue was undeniably state's rights. The question was, "To what extent can states govern themselves?" Now, obviously, the reason why this question was being asked was the legality of slavery in the South. While this institution was inherently immoral and should have been outlawed since the Constitution was ratified, it was not as the writers needed the support of important areas such as Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, etc. Thus it continued to fester in the minds of the national populace.
We all know what happened in the war, and what became of slavery, but what of the central question? While wars are rarely good material for providing legal precedent, they unfortunately are often taken as such all too many times. Thus the apparent answer has become a federal government that increasingly defies any rights that individual states have, and seeks to merely include them as a way of organizing the Congress according to region. How does this impact us today? It means that there is rarely a level of intermediate control in the government that helps provide stability. For example, as I have said before on this blog, the Federal Reserve. Instead of localized depressions easily remedied by moving elsewhere, now everyone is punished by the actions of a few.
Thus we can conclude that the nation's solution to the slavery problem was the right outcome in the wrong way. In a society built on the foundation of the rule of law, it was, and is, unfortunate for such an issue to be resolved by such tragic means that have had so many consequences for the generations afterwards.
And to finish it all off, here is a music video of one of the best songs on the subject by Josh Turner.
