Rod Dreher has an interesting column on a true American religious war.

"However paradoxical, it's simply true that whites and blacks in the south loved each other despite the structural sin in which they were mired. "

what is Dreher smoking here?

I think that he meant that unlike blacks and whites in the north, they interacted socially, and often had very close relationships, despite the class divide. And truly, all were mired in it. There was very little that any individual could do to change the culture or system, despite their feelings toward the institution or the other race.

I agree, though, that as he writes it, it's misleading, because it could be interpreted as "the darkies were happier as slaves," which I don't think is what he meant at all.