Quote Originally Posted by robart
You know much more about american history than me, but does anybody really think the comon soldiers cared about the slaves at all?
The truth of the matter is that the war wasn't fought to end slavery. The real reasons for the war had much more to do with the powers of the Federal govenment versus the rights of the States. The southern states were firm believers in smaller govenment and in keeping laws and govenment at the smallest possible levels at the expense of a strong Federal govenment.

Those attitudes remain largely today, with the old Northestern U.S. states tending (and this is a broad generalization) towards support for a strong centralized Federal govenment (which is typical of the old Democratic Party beliefs) and the Southern states tending towards support for more local power and rights (which is typical of the old Republican Party beliefs).

In actuality both parties today support strong centralized Federal power and the Bush administration has actually set records for the amount of power its taken upon itself, as well as in the massive expansion of the federal govenment it has created.

Having said that, its interesting to note that by the time Lincoln freed the slaves with his Emancipation Proclamation even Southern attitudes towards slavery had changed. Also, economic conditions at the time were changing rapidly which made ownership of slaves less desirable. Many experts today agree that most, if not all of the slaves of the time would have been freed soon after the war and the Reconstruction period ended.