The Sesquicentennial of the Civil War

The nation is celebrating the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War and with all of the hoopla comes the question that will always ensue a great debate--"What caused the Civil War?"  States' rights or slavery?  Would it make sense to say both?  States' rights?  No, not states' rights...a single "right" to enslave human beings. "Everything stemmed from the slavery issue," says Princeton professor James McPherson, whose book Battle Cry of Freedom is widely judged to be the authoritative one-volume history of the war. I have also read his other book Ordeal By Fire:  The Civil War And Reconstruction, which explores the causes of war: the disputes over slavery in the territories, the attempts at compromise, and finally the start of the war itself.  Another leading authority, David Blight of Yale, laments, "No matter what we do or the overwhelming consensus among historians, out in the public mind, there is still this need to deny that slavery was the cause of the war."  Reconciliation, however, can only come by way of honesty.

This Friday, the film The Conspirator, directed by Robert Redford, opens in theaters.  I am so there!!!!