Point of View # 31

Self interest

1. In Greek Mythology the Sirens were singing enchantresses who lured passing sailors to their islands and, subsequently to their dooms

2. Confederate Army enlistments

3. Civil War casualty rates

4. Mississippi River Valley millionaires

5. Southern income distribution

6. Percent of large slave holders

7. Percentage of Southern slave holders

8. Declining rate of slave ownership

9. Presidents and Supreme Court Justices from the South

10. Planters as defenders of racial hierarchy

11. Patriarchal behavior code

12. States rights

13. Slave percent of Southern population

14. Bottom 40% of Southern income distribution

15. Next 40% of Southern income distribution

16. Population with direct commitment to slavery

17. Unity between poor whites and slaves