A Quick Thought

I was watching Gods and Generals the other day. The scene came up where the character of Union Col. Chamberlain was explaining to his brother that an army is power, that its sole purpose is to force an opponent to submit to its will through coercion. He went on to say something about how could the Confederacy be claiming to fight for its freedom while they were willing to continue the institution of slavery. He felt that holding slaves invalidated the South's claim to be fighting for freedom.

Yet, in order to free the slaves, he was more than happy to deny the South the right to be free of the Federal government. He was fighting to deny the Confederate states the right to self-determination regarding secession through the use of the coercive army, all the while claiming the South had no right to be free because it was denying a group their freedom. That smacks of hypocrisy.