We are continuing our series which will last over the next four years on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. In that entire time span it was been difficult to get a southern state to admit that slavery was a central component to their succession from the Union. Although everyone acknowledges that there were many factors involved in the break from the North it is obvious that slavery was that major element. On January 19, 2011 Georgia will commemorate the 150th anniversary of their vote for succession from the United States of America and the Georgia Historical Society will dedicate a historical marker in Milledgeville which was the site of the Georgia statehouse in 1861. The marker makes a free admission that the succession from the Union was a direct result of the election of an anti-slavery Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln. Many Southern intellectuals have always held onto the public persona that the South succeed to defend states-rights and aggression from the North on their way of life. While this is true, the South was trying to maintain their economic, religious, and political position because it was so different from the North. The reality was that if slavery was not a component in all three of those phases then the differences would not be as drastic. This really is quite possibly the first admission by a Southern state entity admitting that slavery was a real factor in the cause of the Civil War.
Look for the next major post of "A Nation was Divided" when we look back at the first state to secede from the Union, South Carolina on December 20th.
http://www.examiner.com/history-in-madison/georgia-acknowledges-it-seceded-for-slavery-and-not-states-rights
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