It would come as a hell of a shock to everyone in the United States in 1865 that slavery only existed because of Jeff Davis. Further still because no one at that time viewed it as reason enough to hang him; you had abolitionists offering to pay his legal fees in any trial. Thaddeus Stevens offered, IIRC, to directly represent him for free even.
No, but after 1863, under US law, all instances of the use of forced labor in the non-occupied south would constitute criminal action. Jeff Davis and the rest of the South were, after the Emancipation Proclamation, illegally holding people in bondage under US law since the Confederacy had no legal jurisdiction in US courts. Furthermore, there's also the fact that he most definitely committed treason, which certainly was a capital offense. Furthermore, some Confederate high commanders certainly committed war crimes--Ft Pillow Massacre being the most famous--which they could also be tried for, though it would be difficult to pin those on Davis personally...
It maybe doesnt matter to you looking back from today. But it mattered alot to the people fighting and dyeing than and there. But would you say that the american soldiers who fought and died recently in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan did that for Bush, Obama or Trump? I dont think so. So why are you doing this to this people? Your statement is completly disregarding this people. You say it doesnt matter why they fought. They fought on the wrong side so it doesnt matter.
And as I stated in my first post in this thread Im not american - my knowledge of the civil war and what came after is very limited. I dont say that the confederacy wasnt created because of slavery and that it wasnt the main issue for the elit of the confederacy. I dont say that the confederacy was not evil. I think it was. And the elit that created was mostly evil - but for some reason they also had the support of a lot of non slavers. What I say is that for a lot of the people and the soldiers of the confederacy it was not only about slavery and their had other reasons to support it. Because they did support it. Why would someone without slaves fight in a war if he believed it was all about slavery? They had their reasons to fight and disregarding it and saying it doesnt matter is not something I would do because it leads to the idea of collective guilt. And thats something I absolutly refuse.
Again, they were forced or paid to, in large part, or they had family who persuaded them to fight, or they were already enlisted in state militias and didn't really know what exactly was going on at the start of the war, or they were lured in by propaganda. Heck, the same thing goes for many US soldiers, particularly those recruited off the boats. Many US Soldiers fought for patriotism or to preserve the Union, in line with the goals of the government prosecuting the war and what the war was "about" to the North. Many others were devoted abolitionists, who had the personal goal of freeing the slaves, but that doesn't mean that the war was about removing slavery for the north as a whole. Many others were immigrants or poor folks down on their luck who were more than happy to take Uncle Sam's cash, or were drafted to do so.
And, comparing it to the War on Terror examples, it's obviously absurd to say that the war started and was prosecuted because of those soldier's patriotism. The War on Terror was *about*, depending on your perspective, either a noble campaign to rid the world of evil or a narrowly-concealed attempt to grab oil. It was not fought because of Patriotism. That's not to say that American soldiers weren't patriotic--that'd be absurd--but rather to demonstrate that the willingness, coerced or otherwise, of enough people to fight is a necessary condition for *any* war. That doesn't make the war *about* that willingness, because if it did then all wars would be about the same thing. No, you need to look at the actions of the people in charge to determine why the war was began and to what ends it was fought.
But if they would have been only in for the money or have been forced than the lost cause wouldnt have had any effect on them.
Sure it would have. People will go to great mental gymnastics to avoid thinking they did something wrong--it's called cognitive dissonance.
Anyone here actually Southerners?
I was born in southern Maryland but grew up in New England. So no, not really, but I do have a family history in the southern planter class.