Frank --

I'm really disappointed! You normally post with much better substance and reason. If what you said was even remotely true, common men must have been rather uncommon in most Southern counties.

Talk of aristocracy has always been pure Northern propaganda with no foundation whatever. If any modern historian has tried to hitch his mule to an aristocracy plow and accomplish anything with it, I'm unaware of it. If you're about to point to someone's wealth and property, be reminded that there are numerous families in the North who held even greater wealth and property.

Besides, your point is mistaken. Large numbers of wealthy planters in the South supported either Bell or Douglas in the general election of 1860. Many of the wealthiest men in the South understood that secession and war imperiled their land, their slaves and their security. For the same reason many wealthy Americans supported King George during the American Revolution. From an investment/security standpoint, it just made better sense.

That dog won't hunt!