Belief in a Cause

Grant believed in the Northern cause during the Civil War though he didn't particularly want to be involved in a war. It's noteworthy that as soon as the call went out for volunteers, Grant offered his services even though he had left the military after the Mexican War in favor of the private life. Grant talked at some length about the fact that slavery is an issue that prompted strong emotions. He said that the free states of America were populated by "intelligent and well-to-do" people, obviously indicating that he believed their views on the issue to be correct. He said that the Southern states depended on laws to protect slavery as an institution and that without those laws, slavery as a whole would fail. The problem is that the South needed the people of the North to approve of the cause, and they -...