The civil war in the US was about slavery. A lot of people (mostly conservatives) argue that it wasn't actually about slavery, but instead a vague notion towards the relative autonomy between states and the federal government, also called "states rights". The idea behind this meme is pressuring a straw man conservative into answering "what state rights" with the implied answer being "to allow the ownership of humans".

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 year ago

Well it sure isn't for the state right to do their own substance control (e.g. letting Coloradans smoke pot and take shrooms when they want.)

Nor was it about the state right to marry gay couples (e.g. Hawaii and Michigan).

And as soon as they can, they're looking to ban abortion Federally, so it's not about the state right to regulate family planning and reproductive health services.

During the slavery / abolition crisis, it was admitted by quite a number of pro-slavery statesmen (including my own ancestor, Jefferson Davis) that the war was entirely about the necessity of institution pf slavery to sustain the economy of the states below the Mason-Dixon line.