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Fan brought up a point that isn't often mentioned: A few slaves, especially the older ones, were snatched from freedom in Africa. (And don't believe for a minute that they were savages. They may well have been more civilized than our own aboriginal people in that they lived in permanent villages and survived by farming.....an agrarian economy. Is that ironic, or what?) Given the tradition of oral history, those born in this country certainly heard tales of the old country; the work and the play; the communities and the families; and, perhaps, the occasional conflict with a neighboring people. And the freedom.
Bama also brought up a good point. There were some freedmen who returned to the certainty of a slave existence rather than face the uncertainty of making a go of it in a hostile world. (Sound at all familiar?) Slave states also had rules governing the humane treatment of slaves. Without enforcement, they held about the same weight of current laws that are unenforced and ignored.
But, although off-topic, the capper was: "the Civil War was about secession, and secession was about slavery." I don't think it gets any more succinct than that.
Bravo, guys and gals! It is such discourse that makes coming here coming home.
ole