When I thought about and posted the Confederate Constitution thread, I didn't even realize that April is Confederate History month.
The so-called "Civil War" was actually not a civil war at all. It was a war between two nations. Here's an interesting article of why it was fought:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese273.html
The Civil War era is a fascinating topic because almost all of the things we are taught about it today are wrong.
(1) The Civil War was about slavery. False.
(2) The South started it. False.
(3) Abraham Lincoln was preserving the union. False.
(4) Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. False.
(5) Abraham Lincoln became a dictator. True.
(6) The 14th Amendment was illegally passed under martial law. True.
Here's another interesting site that popped up on Google. Would make for interesting research to see if all the claims are true:
http://members.cox.net/polincorr1/conpro4.htm (Surf around that guy's site if you want some interesting reading. How much is accurate would be interesting to know -- anybody read about this stuff from credible sources?)
~ zynner