1/ THREAD. How do we know the #CivilWar was caused by #slavery? Academic historians will know this but this is intended for others.
It's not enough just to say it. Let's get the evidence out there.
2/ Look at the facts and circumstances involving the explosive events of the 1850s and Lincoln's election in 1860.
3/ Other causes that have historically been offered up are usually about slavery as an underlying cause.
What else but slavery caused economic differences and the collapse of the Second Party System?
4/ If you read the work of @e_turiano, William Link, @smccurry3 (among many others), we can see that historians now recognize that the fears of slave insurrection and slaves escaping to the North were major factors that pushed enslavers toward secession in 1859 and 1860.
5/ Slavery was immensely valuable. It was built into and inextricably linked with the South's banking system; its culture; its political structure; and its society.
6/ In many cases, representatives from counties in southern states with high percentages of slaves relative to the total population were the ones voting most enthusiastically for secession.
7/ The states with the highest percentages of slaves, relative to the total population, were the earliest to leave the union. Data is taken from the 1860 U.S. Federal Census.
8/ Major Confederate leaders emphasized how important slavery and white supremacy were when it came to secession. See the quotes from James Henley Thornwell, George William Richardson, and Alexander Stephens. Credit to @ProfMSinha for writing about Thornwell.
9/ Slavery was explicitly written into the Confederate Constitution.
10/ Look at the secession documents. These were the justifications that South Carolina and Mississippi offered when they left the union.
11. It wasn't states' rights. While there are some exceptions and nuances, it is striking how often in U.S. history the banner of "states' rights" masked slavery and racism.
As historian James McPherson once asked, "states' rights for what?"
12/ African Americans knew it was about slavery. Debates that ignore their perspectives do a grave disservice to the historical record.
One of these is from Garrison Frazier. The other is from the National Convention of Colored Men in 1864. See also NYT June 2, 1861.
END.
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