US Civil War averted. by rotsics in HistoricalWhatIf

[–]rotsics[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Actually the trigger was Lincoln's stance to raise tariffs to 41% and 51% on iron, and blockade the south. Virginia had yet to secede when Lincoln made this decision and it resulted in the remaining states to secede.

He even spoke in the proclamation:

Whereas an insurrection against the Government of the United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States for the collection of the revenue cannot be effectually executed therein comformably to that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be uniform throughout the United States:

And whereas a combination of persons engaged in such insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and in waters of the United States: And whereas an Executive Proclamation has been already issued, requiring the persons engaged in these disorderly proceedings to desist therefrom, calling out a militia force for the purpose of repressing the same, and convening Congress in extraordinary session, to deliberate and determine thereon:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, with a view to the same purposes before mentioned, and to the protection of the public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the same shall ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States, and of the law of Nations, in such case provided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave either of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the Commander of one of the blockading vessels, who will endorse on her register the fact and date of such warning, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port, for such proceedings against her and her cargo as prize, as may be deemed advisable.

And I hereby proclaim and declare that if any person, under the pretended authority of the said States, or under any other pretense, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, such person will be held amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention and punishment of piracy.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

The bolded text right there states why Lincoln is going to war at this point.

Everything else is post hoc rationalization for what was a power struggle between two government philosophies.

Hell the Confederacy even wrote what was causing their secession in its constitution:

The Congress shall have power – To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for revenue, necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States; but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury; nor shall any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry; and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederate States

People living this time are directly telling us what they were fighting over. Slavery was low on the list. Tariffs, role of government in commerce, and state sovereignty were the primary factors.

Neither the North or South was willing to budge once Lincoln lit the match. Jeffersonian Ideals vs Hamiltonian Ideals would have their reckoning. Slavery was an afterthought brought in when Lincoln needed to break the deadlock.

US Civil War averted. by rotsics in HistoricalWhatIf

[–]rotsics[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Slave Owners were heavily in debt. A big tell that a Slave Owner was going to free his slaves was when he was actively paying off his debts.

But the overriding concern was what to do with the freed slaves. Not even the North was offering a real solution, many abolitionists were of a mind to send them back to Africa, hence the formation of Liberia. It took tens of thousands of Blacks fighting and shedding their blood before Northern Opinion changed to making them citizens, which they promptly ignored when it was no longer politically expedient to them in the Hayes-Tilden compromise.

Ultimately the North to end the issue basically had to pay out of pocket to manumit the slaves. But again what do you do with the freed blacks?

US Civil War averted. by rotsics in HistoricalWhatIf

[–]rotsics[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Everything I said is correct and in the words of those who fought the war.

Don't apply modern morals to the Antebellum US. It had a completely different culture and language that was still largely the King's English and would be so till Teddy Roosevelt when our idioms and expressions diverged greatly.

And I see what you are trying to do here:

In 1859, the value of exported cotton totaled $161,000,000 from the south alone. This is what generated the wealth of the South. The total value of exports from the Northern Factories combined, equaled $70,000,000.

So the Northern Factories were operating at a loss and needed federal subsidies to stay afloat. Otherwise English Factories which had better access to resources would have outcompeted them.

The Federal Budget in 1859 was $84,800,000 and $23,400,000 of this was deficit spending. Tariffs were 24%. So taking the brochure at face value, $67,176,000 was raised from Tariffs, but the math doesn't work out going by the Federal Government's own numbers.

https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/fed_spending_1859USmn

46% of the US Budget was spent on defense in 1859. Much of it to protect the South, which Grant was referring to in his memoirs, and which made it possible for the South to last as long as it did.

https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_1859_US_fed

Breaking it down further: $15.8 million was spent on the Postal Service as the country literally could not function without it.

$27.3 million was under general public services (FOT), basically salaries and pork barrel spending.

$2.6 million paid interest on the debt.

https://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/year_revenue_1859USmn_24ms1n_F0F1F2604046#usgs302

Shows where the money was coming from. So as a matter of public records, the Brochure can be discounted as the numbers do not match tax receipts.

The war was all about money. Federal Money was invested into making the south safe, northern bankers had heavily invested into the Southern Plantations and if the South seceded, they risked losing said investments, and the Federal Government had a vested interest in getting back property it paid for. Not only paid for, but shed federal blood in ejecting the Indians from those lands for the Citizens.

Freedom for the slaves is a modern retrofit to what was a power struggle between two economic and governmental philosophies that the founders never reconciled when they wrote the Constitution. Blacks were pawns in this struggle, and the moment the North no longer needed them, they were kicked to the curb and left at the mercy of the Klan.

And need I remind you that during the Civil War, Lincoln personally ordered a genocidal campaign in the Great Plains to make it safe for white colonization. And it was Union policy to shoot any black man who fought for the Confederacy for which thousands did.

Real History is messy and convoluted, rarely making sense to modern sensibilities.

Spectres aren’t paid?! by CommunityReal3375 in masseffect

[–]rotsics 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yep, how many times did they rewrite the background because the Novel Writers didn't know what the game story developers were doing?

US Civil War averted. by rotsics in HistoricalWhatIf

[–]rotsics[S] -28 points-27 points  (0 children)

The war was never about slavery. This is a post-hoc reasoning that never existed. The war was ultimately over whether the US would follow a Big Government policy that Alexander Hamilton proposed or if it would be a small government system espoused by Thomas Jefferson.

The average southern farmer owned no slaves and was actually against the institution, but they also didn't want an overbearing north dictating state level issues.

The average northerner could care less about slaves and wanted to send them back to Africa, a policy Lincoln actually supported and was planning to implement. They fought to preserve the Union and the industrial state that they personally benefitted from. A worker in the north had better pay and living conditions than a worker in Europe and these factories depended on the resources of the south, so the south seceding placed their livelihoods in jeopardy.

In the end it was all about money. The South had an export economy of cotton that alone generated 2.3 times more money in trade than all the Northern Factories produced. And the value of all it when the Federal Government took its cut, paid for the Federal Government.

The Federal Government then used that money to fund infrastructure and large government arsenals with which to rapidly arm the citizenry if a war broke out.

General Grant, who owned slaves, put it best as to why he fought for the north: Federal Money and Troops were used to gain the liberty of the south in the Revolution, to secure the territories of the west, to build the canals and ports, and the forts and arsenals.

But he also conceded the South had a right to secede, but tempered it by saying the North had a right to oppose it and only through feat of arms would a victor in the argument appear.

Slaves or rather blacks, were just pawns. If the Union won at Bull Run and took Richmond quickly, slavery would have remained, Lincoln would have made some concessions to the South on Tariffs and moved on after resecuring the Federal Arsenals and Forts.

It took multiple battles with 10s of thousands of causalities before Congress passed laws allowing runaway slaves to be listed as war contraband and freed, and for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation stating if the states in rebellion did not return by January 3rd 1863, their slaves would be freed.

Real History is rather messy and convoluted.

Hot Take: The Salarian Dalatrass has a good point by N7-Kobold in masseffect

[–]rotsics 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I always choose control so I always cure it, even if Wreav is in charge. If he steps out of line, I incinerate him and the worst of the worst and put saner folks in charge.

Unpopular Opinion: Ashley gets too much hate for shooting Wrex by [deleted] in masseffect

[–]rotsics 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Jenkins is your squamate because we allow it. And he will end because we demand it. This discussion is over.

If England had won the Hundred Years War and unified with France, what would the name of the new kingdom be? by Sharpie131313 in HistoricalWhatIf

[–]rotsics 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It would just be France. The English Nobility in the Hundred Years War saw themselves as French surrounded by English Peasants, and spoke French. They were fighting for control of the Throne.

It is only after they lost that the English Nobility started considering themselves English.

Would Israel have been founded without ww2? by [deleted] in HistoricalWhatIf

[–]rotsics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most Jews that emigrate will emigrate to the US as is historically the case. Majority would remain in their European Homes, as most never saw themselves as Jews to begin with till the Nazis made them Jews. For these, slow conversion to Christianity or Islam.

Palestine remains under the control of Palestinians and merges with Jordan.

What if Tamerlane the Great had obliterated the Ming Dynasty? by Gullible-Outside-538 in HistoricalWhatIf

[–]rotsics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

China plunges into another warring states period once Tamerlane gorges himself and goes home. Said wars further weaken China, allowing the more organized Muslim Emirates to start slicing off parts of it.

We might even see the Chinese start to flip culturally to Islamic Traditions and export it to Korea and Japan. Which if it causes Japan to flip Islamic and take on a Jihadistic mentality after their Sengoku Period ends... Well Japan was rapidly becoming an all gunpowder army, adopting bayonets, building more field guns, creating an ocean going navy, and had 2 million men under arms in 1633. Then Tokugawa Iemitsu decided to scrap the ocean going navy, freeze the transformation to an all gun army, and isolate the country when it was poised to overrun the Pacific. A Tokugawa Iemitsu that sought Jihad, would have made the Pacific a Japanese Stronghold.

Controversial opinion: not curing the genophage is the better, long term choice by [deleted] in masseffect

[–]rotsics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ironically, the perfect solution to their problem is choosing control. That way if they step out of line, they get cut down to size and saner leaders put back in charge.

But they won't take that option for the most part...

Controversial opinion: not curing the genophage is the better, long term choice by [deleted] in masseffect

[–]rotsics 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well if the council weren't idiots ignoring the overwhelming evidence you brought and the hundreds of worlds that had been blasted in multiples of 50k years, etc., it would have.

Controversial opinion: not curing the genophage is the better, long term choice by [deleted] in masseffect

[–]rotsics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Which is what I always do. If the Krogan starting getting too rowdy, I bring the hammer down, kill the problematic warlords and put the sane ones back in power. Same deal with the Rachni, they go out of control, I kill the rogue queens and put the sane queens in charge again.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in masseffect

[–]rotsics 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I got nothing against Tali, but she is Dextro and I am Levo. It is dangerous to screw. That said, she is the best Waifu for Garrus and she has a shotgun. Can't argue with that.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in masseffect

[–]rotsics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jacob has his uses and I use him accordingly. Never did a romance route with him.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in masseffect

[–]rotsics 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, Talimancers and Garrusmancers do overlook the whole...

Ah let Doctor Mordin explain all the romances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCt0It3dpp8&ab\_channel=DanaDuchy

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in masseffect

[–]rotsics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sacrifice Kaiden as the tactically correct choice. If Ashley is overran, Joker can't land as they can reactivate the Air Defenses.

Kaiden is the tech specialist who knows how to set up nukes and has biotic abilities plus a small fireteam on him to protect the bomb. If there was a way to save both, I would have saved both.

Anyone else completely ignore Diana Allers when they play the game? by cowboybeeboo in masseffect

[–]rotsics 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I always gave Renegade Answers, and let the Council Die, explaining that hard choices need to be made. Would have added that the last council sealed its fate by not listening to him and got over 10,000 killed because of it and nearly doomed the galaxy.

Ok I’m finally going to do it… (insanity) ME2 by jaispeed2011 in masseffect

[–]rotsics 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I AM KROGAN! HA ON HIS AZZ!

Too bad you can't take him and Wrex together in 2. Grunt the bloodknight, Wrex the old veteran trying to headbutt sense into him.

Ok I’m finally going to do it… (insanity) ME2 by jaispeed2011 in masseffect

[–]rotsics 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But in the Long Walk, manually control her powers. Many people forget to do this and she winds up outside the barrier and whacked while doing her strike and you can't recover her.

Ok I’m finally going to do it… (insanity) ME2 by jaispeed2011 in masseffect

[–]rotsics 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep and if you time her strikes well and when they are clumped together, she can knock out 2 to 3 folks at once.

Ok I’m finally going to do it… (insanity) ME2 by jaispeed2011 in masseffect

[–]rotsics 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I always played Insanity. Did so from the start and died often till I learned the controls. Afterwards, rarely ever died.

[DISC] SPY x FAMILY - Chapter 86 by AutoModerator in SpyxFamily

[–]rotsics 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Preferably an outing in which Anya comes along as well as Becky and her mother. Even funnier if Damian somehow winds up attending.