Comment on Welcome to industrialization, bitchass
LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 5 days agoYea, the reason slavery is lesser now is because we fucking fought a war over making it overtly illegal… You’d have to be a moron to think it wouldn’t be around today in the US without the civil war.
Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
There’s lots of countries that ended slavery without a war. Some via external diplomatic pressure, some via internal societal pressure.
As far as I understand it (I’m not a historian or American) the confederacy being economically weaker than the union was a significant factor in the civil war.
LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 5 days ago
You’re right, but that just shows how shitty the US, and humanity as a whole, still is.
TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 4 days ago
They were economically weaker because they were a one trick pony. Slaves producing cash crops was extremely effective at creating a vast amount of wealth for plantation owners, which is why they didn’t diversify their economy at all. This meant they didn’t have a manufacturing capacity anywhere near the north, but per capita had a lot more ultra wealthy individuals.
It just wasn’t an economy that was suited for war unless they could purchase outside aid. Which is why Lincoln went so hard in the paint and declaring anyone country who materially aided the south would instantly be at war with the Union.