cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/shermanposting/p/2148889/something-true
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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It was all about slavery. But it would also be a mistake to think it was those who wanted to keep slavery on one side, and those who wanted to abolish slavery on the other. The abolitionist position was still a minority one in the North at the time of the war. The South didn’t just want to preserve slavery, but wanted to expand it westward. Most in the North - including Lincoln himself - were fine with letting the South keep their slaves, but didn’t want it to expand as that would foreclose much of stolen western lands to white yeoman farmers (i.e. the Free Soil movement). IIRC Lincoln offer the Southern states the right to keep slaves in perpetuity so long as they stayed in the Union.
Wasn't the Fugitive Slave Act also a big reason? The North was not OK with Southern states coming up and kidnapping freed slaves
Yes certainly.
When you say he was going to let them keep slaves, do you mean just keeping it as a state issue as it was before? Because that was the issue to begin with for the south. The south didn't want their people be able to abolish slaves.
Sort of. He would have allowed the contemporary slave states to keep slavery should they choose, but future states out west would not necessarily be given that choice. Keeping slavery boxed in in South was totally unacceptable to southerners.
I'm not sure I understand yeoman in this context, I just know it in naval/military contexts. Little help?
Sure - meaning a small-time farmer who typically doesn’t hire anyone to work the land (usually . doing it themselves). Not quite subsistence farming as the goal is to have a small surplus to be able to pay for stuff you can’t just make yourself.
Americans like Thomas Jefferson had this vision of the country - in its ideal form - being an entire nation of yeoman farmers. One reason stealing more native land was important was the rich could always promise the (white) poor that they could improve their lot in life by moving west and becoming a yeoman farmers.
from what i've dug up, yeoman seems to refer to a now nonexistent middle class? i don't know, it's fifteen minutes of research without coffee, i can't verify the accuracy of my work.