The Civil War was fought between the manufacturing protectionist North and the free trader agrarian South. 

Popular culture portrays it as a war over slavery.  Read Lincoln’s Inaugural Address of 1861.  The failure of the South to enforce protectionist tariffs is the only fight promised by Lincoln. 

Lincoln’s resolution of the slavery issue only came into play when his heavy handed efforts to enforce the central government expansion of powers in violation of state sovereignty were not yet decisive. 

Thanks to the strong central government and the conversion of the United States from a voluntary association to a coercive association, states such as California are restricted in how clean they can keep their air by federal regulations; and all states are restricted in their attempts to enact single payer health care by ERISA, a federal law.

To those who celebrate the power of the central government and credit it with civil rights legislation, remember it was the Supreme Court that decided and the central government that enforced the Dred Scott decision, and Chief Justice Taney that declared a black man had no rights a white man was bound to honor.

This is what is happening in our country today. The
racists and bigots attempt to rewrite history. The
same thing is happening in Texas schools. They want
to teach hatred and racism in a way to soften what
really happened in our nation. Things like most
slaves were happy being slaves and the white man did
them a favor by bringing them here to America. Even
today, the Tea baggers act as if Obama by himself
bailed out the banks. Or he started the recession or
he caused all of the nations debt. They act as if
there was no George W. Bush since he is hiding in
Texas until after the elections.They can’t seem to
recall that Ronald Racist I mean Reagan and both
Bushes ran up the deficits by giving tax cut to
millionaires and billionaires and fighting wars
without paying for them. They seem to forget that 14
trillion dollars in the stock market was stolen and
gambled away under Bush with no accountability. Now
they are about to take over congress to do it all
over again. The real goal is to bring back the
conditions of slavery where you have the very rich
{Masters and slave owners} and the poor {people
working for slave wages without benefits, job
protections and safety protections or health care.}
At that point they can restore America to it’s
illustreious past. No women’s right especially white
women to have an abortion in order to maintain a
white majority. No workers rights. Slave wages or no
job at all. Repeal of the 14th amendment and the full
return of states rights so discrimination can become
legal again. Rewriting history is the first step to
achieving that goal.

berniem, if u had added the stars and stripes to that rant u might have said something.  but u did not and u said nothing.