Why did the South ratify the 13th amendment?

[A18]

Surely they were more than 1/4 of the states...

[J. J.]

They had a gun to their head.  :-)

Actually, a lot of the legislatures were made up of opponents to the Confederacy and anti-slavery legislatures.  The ones that supported slavery were generally excluded from office.

[A18]

But then why did the southern legislatures vote to secede?

Actually, why did the south want to secede? I know there was a controversy over whether slaves that made it to the north would be sent back, but becoming a seperate nation wouldn't change that.

[J. J.]

The legislators in place in 1861, along with the electorate, was pro-slavery.  They pretty much lossed the right to vote avfter losing the war.

[PBrunsel]

Radical Republicans had controll over the southern states legislatures. That is why they approved of the 13th Amendment.

[A18]

So how did radical Republicans get elected in the south?

Wouldn't they still vote for pro-slavery people post-war?

[J. J.]

So how did radical Republicans get elected in the south?

Wouldn't they still vote for pro-slavery people post-war?

They couldn't vote; they were barred from voting.

[A18]

What was the ban's criteria?

(not trying to be annoying, just wondering ; )

[J. J.]

Women couldn't vote. 

Men who had taken an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and "rebelled" was disinfranshised.  That was one criterion.  That eliminated almost all of the political leadership in the fromer Confederacy.

I'm not sure of the others, but there were a number.

[??????????]

Democracy in the US was a joke from 1860-1900.

[J. J.]

Democracy in the US was a joke from 1860-1900.

If you happened to be a Black American, you might say the same thing about 1776-1865, and 1896-1965.  :-)

[J. J.]

Oh, and if you were a woman, you might say that about 1776-1920.

[John Dibble]

But then why did the southern legislatures vote to secede?

Actually, why did the south want to secede? I know there was a controversy over whether slaves that made it to the north would be sent back, but becoming a seperate nation wouldn't change that.

Many reasons, slavery among them. Slaves escaping to the North wasn't the real concern - the concern was that the non-slave states would eventually outnumber the slave states to such a degree that they could outlaw slavery, radically changing their way of life. Of course, the Civil War resulted in just that, lol. When Lincoln was elected without a single electoral vote from the South it was the straw that broke the camel's back, because they believed that Lincoln wanted slavery ended, though their fears about him ending it were probably unfounded - he actually just wanted to keep slavery from expanding outside the South and hoped it would die off on its own, which it probably would have as farming technology increased, making large amounts of manpower less needed.

[Platypus]

Democracy in Amwerica was a joke 1772-1965, 2000-?