If the Civil War wasn't about slavery somebody should really go back in time and tell the Confederacy.

To be fair, sometimes it takes 10 minutes of looking into the Civil War before you realize slavery may have had a role in it lol

If you ever meet someone who says that the civil war was more about states rights than slavery, offer to play this game with them: They will read verbatim the Declarations of Causes of Seceding States. Every time it mentions states right to self govern, you will pay them $100, and every time it mentions slavery, you will slap them in the face. In the aftermath, the lost causer will be $0 richer and you will have a sore hand

Always blown away how Atunshei has exusive rights to audio recordings of people that have been dead for over 150 years.  How does he do that?

As John Green has told a story about himself in HS, his teacher replied to him on this topic, "The States' right to do what sir?"

Chris "I'll try not to talk so much in part 2"

You do realize we are here for your commentary, right?  There is no such thing as too much commentary!

Sincere thank you for consistently producing great content!  My favorite YouTube channel by far and I'm always so happy to come home from work to see a new video waiting to be viewed.

No one can call themselves a history fan, if they’re not bothering to read primary source documentation. The articles of Confederacy are completely and utterly clear about the role of slavery in the Civil War. Also the majority of legislation prior to, during, and post- Civil War was specifically about slavery, its abolition, and the restitution.

I like how at the start you clarify that states rights were to preserve slavery right before it was said in the video and after that your "There it is" was followed by "There it is" second later in the video 😂

This video, and the commentary about the cotton gin, inspired me to check something. And... sure enough. Eli Whitney did indeed invent the cotton gin - and the same people who screamed and snarled about their "property rights" were super duper quick to infringe on his patent and make their fortunes while cheating Whitney. So... on top of everything else, they were being lying hypocrites about the whole "property rights" thing. Literally every single thing about the plantation owners made them subhuman. Scum.

When I saw the new "Checkmate Lincoinites" video my first thought was immediately "Man I hope VTH reacts to this". Thanks for teaching me that dreams do come true

I can speak from experience that if you grow up in the south, most of your history teachers use the argument that it was not fought over slavery, but for State's rights...and the text books chosen gloss over a lot of the points that could easily refute that argument. And while a more avid history buff would certainly know better, your average highschool graduate from the South who probably made a C or B in that class will spend the rest of their lives arguing that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery, because they certainly won't question what they were taught in school.

As stated in Mississippi's declaration of succession (literally the first reason listed): "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery". Honestly, this entire topic is pretty well summarized in the first couple lines spoken... the state's rights to own slaves. Not really sure who could possibly argue with this.

One thing people forget about the idea of freeing slaves via compensated emancipation was that the Constitution forbid the US government from taking peoples peoperty without just compensation. And since slaves were "property", they were working within the framework of what they had.

Grant made a good point about the civil war. He said maybe the 13 original colonies had some argument about the right to secede, but all the other states were settled with the help of the federal government. All of these states were acquired by treaty, purchase, or conquest by the federal government.

I think these reactions are pretty cool. Getting someone who's goal is to provide context and educate the audience overlaying a video which raises primary evidence to support a debate. It's basically 'Extra for Experts' for history nerds lol.

I like how he just casually pulls out a piece of the tree his relatives were hanged off of

It's pretty crazy you have a piece of the tree so directly connected with death of your ancestors. I can't really think of the right words for that, except it's amazing you were able to connect your ancestors to that point in history and have a physical memento of their lives/deaths.. Always appreciate your videos and keep up the great content.

Oh that first joke hit way harder after watching you make the same point right before he said it. "There it is" and I was laughing my ass of.

Oh wow, I was literally watching the original video thinking "Oh man, I bet VTH is going to have some stuff to say about this, can't wait."

Childhood is when you think the Civil War was fought over slavery. High school is when you think it was about a lot more than that. Adulthood is when you know that the Civil War was fought over slavery.