Five myths about Southern Secession

With the American Civil War a hundred and fifty years behind us,  it is bound to be fought once again in speeches and essays.  Here is a good one, in my opinion, James Loewen in the Washington Post.

The five myths Loewen explodes are:

1. The South seceded over states' rights.

In fact, Confederates opposed states' rights -- that is, the right of Northern states not to support slavery.

2. Secession was about tariffs and taxes.
   

Southerners had written the tariff of 1857, under which the nation was functioning. Its rates were lower than at any point since 1816.

3. Most white Southerners didn't own slaves, so they wouldn't secede for slavery.

[S]ecession would maintain not only slavery but the prevailing ideology of white supremacy as well.

4. Abraham Lincoln went to war to end slavery.

[T]he North initially went to war to hold the nation together. Abolition came later.

5. The South couldn't have made it long as a slave society.

Slaves were worth more than all the manufacturing companies and railroads in the nation. No elite class in history has ever given up such an immense interest voluntarily.