23. At the Time, the Confederates Made it Clear That Slavery Was Why They Chose to Secede
The revisionist claim that the South did not fight for slavery in the Civil War goes against what the Confederate states’ very own Declarations of Secession stated, reinforced by the strident words of leading Southern politicians at the time. Take Mississippi’s declaration of secession: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery– the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth.
These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.”
