White Southerners who didn't own slaves (which yes, was the vast majority of White Southerners) were still duped into fighting and dying in the defense of a system and way of life that ironically kept them in poverty. But even in such a state of poverty, these whites nevertheless thoroughly believed that they were still better than the black man... and thus, even if they didn't own a slave, they'd die to make sure that no black slave would EVER be considered their equal.
The typical white southerner in antebellum America, even if he didn't own a slave and resented plantation owners for being wealthy and owning slaves, nevertheless viewed himself as in a caste above the slave.
Frankly, the "war reparations" or more accurately, justice against traitors, should have been more severe. Leaders should have been hanged and all those who had violated their oath to the Constitution (former soldiers, congressmen, governors etc) should have never been pardoned or allowed to regain the right to hold office or vote. Lincoln wanted mercy, but sadly the way of mercy led another century of Jim Crow
White Southerners who didn't own slaves (which yes, was the vast majority of White Southerners) were still duped into fighting and dying in the defense of a system and way of life that ironically kept them in poverty. But even in such a state of poverty, these whites nevertheless thoroughly believed that they were still better than the black man... and thus, even if they didn't own a slave, they'd die to make sure that no black slave would EVER be considered their equal.
The typical white southerner in antebellum America, even if he didn't own a slave and resented plantation owners for being wealthy and owning slaves, nevertheless viewed himself as in a caste above the slave.
Frankly, the "war reparations" or more accurately, justice against traitors, should have been more severe. Leaders should have been hanged and all those who had violated their oath to the Constitution (former soldiers, congressmen, governors etc) should have never been pardoned or allowed to regain the right to hold office or vote. Lincoln wanted mercy, but sadly the way of mercy led another century of Jim Crow