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The secession and the Confederacy's existence were predicated on slavery, on preserving and defending it against containment, as virtually all of its founders from Robert Barnwell Rhett to Jefferson Davis unashamedly declared in 1861.

— William C. Davis Look Away!: A History of the Confederate States of America (2002)

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Slavery

More quotes by William C. Davis

Always there had been the complicated factor of the one institution that peculiarly set the South apart from the North, slavery...

Look Away!: A History of the Confederate States of America (2002)

All peoples part with their myths reluctantly, and historians are at some risk when they try to dismantle those of the Confederacy.

The Cause Lost: Myths and Realities of the Confederacy (1996)

There are very few ways to legally break a contract unilaterally.

The Cause Lost: Myths and Realities of the Confederacy (1996)

Confederates were terrified of what was happening to slavery.

Look Away!: A History of the Confederate States of America (2002)

The only substantial difference between them, and the one that divided them politically almost since birth, was their system of labor.

Look Away!: A History of the Confederate States of America (2002)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William C. Davis (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.