The argument was advanced at some point that a human being could only know liberty if they actually owned other human beings.

One anecdote that stuck with me from the Ken Burns television series The Civil War was the drop in morale in the Confederate Army when forces were compelled to remain together and in camp or on the field during the winter; for many, the principle that they were a militia who would go home to their families out of the campaigning season was at the heart of what they were fighting for.