Cause?.....Well I suppose you could trace things back to the founders not sufficiently defining their intentions when they jettisoned the Articles of Confederation. Patrick Henry recognized this and it really should have been settled once and for all during the Nullification Crisis but it was just argued about, as usual.
....Same as it ever was.
Central to the argument of "who started it" is who had the more
legitimate claim to Fort Sumter.
The fact remains that for all intents and purposes the Federalists have won the argument. What remains is the legacy of the fight itself...Was it worthwhile?
There is an old standby which I rely on when considering what actions to take on any given circumstance. It's not only the principle which is important but the actual hill you die on is just as important. The secessionists climbed up on a seriously foolish hill. There were more than enough tariff issues (particularly with S. Carolina involved) to make a fight of this but instead they chose to base their new Confederacy on the perceived necessity of slavery.
This could have been lived down since the vast majority of Confederate combatants were merely fighting to protect their homes not the institution of slavery but something else happened. The segregationists chose to use the Battle Flag of the Army Of Northern Virginia as their symbol....Nobody protested this use at the time so I find it kind of disingenuous to deny it now.
The blacks have reason to be offended....I don't blame them at all.
Of course the evils that men do still exist.....A scrap of cloth will not change that no matter what you do with it. However, the sacrifices which the rank and file Confederate soldier suffered to protect their families/land and their independence from a overbearing Federalist philosophy were tarnished and dragged through the mud by their own leaders, and to a lesser extent, by their own decedents.
You cannot champion the cause of liberty by fighting for the right to make men slaves or keep them in subordination.....No matter what your view of eugenics
may be.
I'm not sure I really answered anything here.
lain: