The slave system also shaped military preparation before the Civil War. Enslavers feared revolt and therefore wanted armed forces available for internal control, while Democratic administrations allowed weapons to move from federal arsenals toward southern state guards. Southern political identity increasingly treated any Republican presidency as an immediate threat to slavery and the established social order. In this interpretation, that expectation helped turn Lincoln's election into secession, while secession created the war that destroyed slavery much faster than ordinary federal politics likely would have done. Continued southern participation in federal politics would have made abolition difficult to pass through Congress.
Notable Point · 26:43-34:14
State guards, secession, and southern war readiness
Fear of slave revolt and Republican rule encouraged armed state forces, weapons transfers, and a political identity that made secession seem necessary to southern leaders.