Andrew’s Reviews > Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era > Status Update
Andrew
is 40% done
Sometimes, attempts to nuance history causes us to over-rotate. Lincoln held out olive branches to the South when he was inaugurated --> Lincoln didn't care about slavery and really just cared about the union. Some leaders of the South (Lee?) fought for the South because of states' rights --> the South cared about states' rights, not about the Civil War.
Hearing the holistic story has been very helpful.
— 21 hours, 35 min ago
Hearing the holistic story has been very helpful.
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Andrew’s Previous Updates
Andrew
is 9% done
Related to the last note—the most interesting example of piercing the veil on states’-rights-as-a-defense was the Fugitive Slave Act… which Macpherson points out was the strongest intervention of the federal government against states’ rights to date, and one of the cornerstone demands of the South in the Compromise of 1850.
— Feb 15, 2026 12:00PM
Andrew
is 7% done
My biggest takeaway from reading more about the antebellum lead up to the Civil War is how funny is the modern “it was actually a defense of states’ rights” argument for the South. Macpherson makes it very clear that there is a specific right about which the South very much cared…
So far a great read.
— Feb 15, 2026 11:29AM
So far a great read.
