Quote from you_no_see_me_
Based on that there was no honor or chivalry in the medieval times. Considering that peasants are essentially the same thing as slaves. Which is also ironic because that is the time of which those terms are used to describe the nobility and royalty.
You can't compare medieval times with 19th century...there's a few things that happened in between like renaissance, industrial revolution and some other (and I like to believe that generally as a race, humans evolved in those 6-7 hundred years)...that pretty much changed the perspective of many things including chivalry...basically you couldn't burn a village and then make a chapel in it's place and still be called chivalrous...but you're a white paladin so you prolly know all about chivalry and stuff.
Also peasants were mostly bound by land they worked on (not by their masters chains).
But back on topic, I understand that union's motives weren't completely benign and righteous...but guess what, in such cases they rarely are...did england and france declare war on third reich because they liked the polish people and their dancing? Many times it's a choice between bad and worse. And getting rid of slavery is the best thing that could happen in that conflict...rich cotton moguls getting less money, and hillbilly redneck boyos having less negros to beat up really shouldn't be high on anyone's priority list (I'm over simplifying but that really is the gist of it $)
P.S.
One other thing...I'm really trying hard to ignore your sig...reeeeeally hard...and it's just not working.
The thing is...I've met a lot of skin heads (when you're a football fan, it's bound to happen)...and before you jump at me I'm not calling you a skin head (maybe you aren't even bald, or don't wear dr. martens (I do wear them, marvelous boots))...every single one of them I had the chance to talk to or observe...was either a twit/twat/dimwit/nitwit and/or had some serious issues with himself (well, mostly fat and short dudes). Most of them had problems with foreign people taking their jobs, or lowering down the price of labor (even though I'm pretty sure they themselves weren't really looking that hard for a job)...very few had problems with 'mixing'. I just don't get it...Halle Berry, Jessica Alba...freaking Blake Griffin!?
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If the sea were made of Whiskey and I was a duck
I'd swim to the bottom and never come up