• PugJesus@lemmy.worldM
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    It’s a particularly questionable take considering that the Southern states were often against a strong Federal government when it opposed their interests - see, the nullification crisis. It wasn’t “North wants weak Feds, South wants strong Feds”, the cause of the Civil War came down overwhelmingly to the issue of slavery any time the causes are traced back to the root of the complaint, again, and again, and again; almost exclusively.

    • njm1314@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      Well yes and no. That’s certainly the rhetoric they used. They like to say they didn’t like a strong federal government. But the original poster was correct in that they really wanted a very strong federal government in regards to pursuing slaves. The Confederacy was also very much in favor of a very strong federal government when they created their government. The makeup of the Confederacy had a lot of strong federal powers. More so than the US government in some ways. It just really comes down to them being Hypocrites. Like in most things.

      • PugJesus@lemmy.worldM
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 months ago

        They wanted a strong Federal government when it suited them, and a weak Federal government when it suited them. It wasn’t a matter of a general principle - it came down to economic interests, and the economic interests of the South were built almost exclusively around slavery. The Confederacy was more centralized in some ways - such as the absolute prohibition against states’ rights to regulate slavery - but in others, it was weak, such as the right of individual states to nullify Federal (or, rather, Confederal?) officers in their state.

        • barsquid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          2 months ago

          They wanted a strong Federal government when it suited them, and a weak Federal government when it suited them.

          Sounds familiar. Regressives just being themselves.