Not just slavery but the SPREAD of slavery. This is a major distinction we don’t grasp today, but everyone grasped it then. The South did not fight to protect slaver — utter nonsense. They fought to SPREAD slavery, and spread it against the wishes of the people.

See the amazing Southern Ultimatums — Five Ultimatums issued by Southern leaders in Montgomery, in March of 1861. These Ultimatums were reported in newspapers North and South — for example, the RIchmond paper headlines about the Ultimatums read “THE TRUE ISSUE”

ALL five Southern Ultimatums were about the same thing — the SPREAD of slavery. The SPREAD of slavery against the will of the people.

SPecifically, the First Ultimatum was that slavery be spread in the territories — they meant, of course, Kansas. Kansas had just voted 98% to 2 % to keep slavery out forever. But that didn’t even slow the Southern leaders down — their first ultimatum was that Slavery MUST be spread there, and the US Congress must do the spreading!

This is a total repudiation of the fig leaf of “state’s rights”– once Kansas rejected slavery, the Southern leaders were in a quandry. What do we do now? We have lied to people and said we only wanted what the white people wanted. Well, Kansas just said NO, in a major way.

Toombs shouted “EXPAND OR PERISH” he meant expand slavery or perish. The Ultimatums were all about the spread of slavery — states had no rights to decide anything about any slave issue, according to the Southern Ultimatums.

These ultimatums were not the drunken reckless radicals– these were the considered, and decades long demands of the South. And the Southern newspapers said so. They said these were the demands we have always made!

These were the demands in 1820, when the South then promised violence if they could not spread slavery. The “Compromise” of 1820 was about as much compromise as a 7-11 armed robbery. And the South knew it. In 1850, the South wanted to spread slavery again — they weren’t satisfied with the robber spoils from 1820. Once again, they demanded the spread of slavery. Once again, we tried to clean it up and call it a “Compromise”.

By 1861, the South wanted even more, not content to push slavery where they had said before. Now they wanted the territories that had rejected slavery — rejected slavery overwhelmingly.

And that was what their Ultimatums were all about: the SPREAD of slavery against the wishes of the people.

Every US history text book in schools should have three documents. One, the Declaration of Independence. Two, the Southern Ultimatums to spread slavery. And three, Lincoln’s Gettysburg address.

Each are that important.

If the South had won the Civil War, they would have put these Ultimatums in every class room. They would have had their children memorize the Ultimatums to spread slavery. But they lost. So they have done everything possible to cover this crazy aspect of their history.

What their leaders demanded, what their newspapers shouted out with pride, they dare not even mention to this day. Its been 150 years, and they are still terrified of their own statements, their own demands, their own Ultimatums.