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Anyone that thinks the Confederate flag symbolizes racism and slavery obviously needs to go back to school and learn American History.
I have learned American history. I've read the Articles of Secession. Slavery is mentioned several times in it. There are a few passages of a racially charged nature, most notably from Texas secession.
I have learned American history. I've read the Articles of Secession. Slavery is mentioned several times in it. There are a few passages of a racially charged nature, most notably from Texas secession.
The Confederate flag is a battle flag, it never represented slavery.
The Confederate flag is a battle flag, it never represented slavery.
It was a battle flag that represented the Confederate cause. Therefore, it represents a large part of what that cause was, a desperation to keep slavery.
I have learned American history. I've read the Articles of Secession. Slavery is mentioned several times in it. There are a few passages of a racially charged nature, most notably from Texas secession.
While this above is true, it, like many other posts that reduce a complex historical situation to a one-dimensional soundbite, it leaves a lot to be desired. I saw a post on WWII not long ago where someone asked when WWII started and the best answer was that it started on Armistice Day for WWI. It could be argued that the Civil War started before the ink on the Constitution was dry. Sectional difference existed before the Revolution and just got worse. Yes, the South had an agrarian slave based economy and nobody is denying that. But the agrarian economy had several issues with the way things were (tariffs, etc) from the beginning. The truth is that the North and South had very different interests based on their locations and economies (climate played a major role in the development of the plantation system).
The war was not started to preserve slavery - there was no threat to outlaw slavery in the South. The big issue was the slave states being outnumbered by non-slave states in the Federal government and the South then losing any national political power for their interests (which, as we've established, were very different from those of the North from the very get-go). They saw secession as the only way to preserve their trading interests and their economic stability. The industrialization in the NE just made the differences more obvious. And the South felt they had every right to do this - quoting the Declaration of Independence. If it was good enough for George Washington, it was good enough for them.
I saw a funny meme on FB this morning. It was a picture of the Pyramids with the caption: "When will we take down these symbols of slavery and oppression?"
That there is funny. The Jews were slaves for centuries upon centuries. It took how long to build those things?
While this above is true, it, like many other posts that reduce a complex historical situation to a one-dimensional soundbite, it leaves a lot to be desired. I saw a post on WWII not long ago where someone asked when WWII started and the best answer was that it started on Armistice Day for WWI. It could be argued that the Civil War started before the ink on the Constitution was dry. Sectional difference existed before the Revolution and just got worse. Yes, the South had an agrarian slave based economy and nobody is denying that. But the agrarian economy had several issues with the way things were (tariffs, etc) from the beginning. The truth is that the North and South had very different interests based on their locations and economies (climate played a major role in the development of the plantation system).
The war was not started to preserve slavery - there was no threat to outlaw slavery in the South. The big issue was the slave states being outnumbered by non-slave states in the Federal government and the South then losing any national political power for their interests (which, as we've established, were very different from those of the North from the very get-go). They saw secession as the only way to preserve their trading interests and their economic stability. The industrialization in the NE just made the differences more obvious. And the South felt they had every right to do this - quoting the Declaration of Independence. If it was good enough for George Washington, it was good enough for them.
It sounds like a simple sound bite, but it cannot be refuted. And I never said it was the only part. However, that is the most glaring part of it. I cannot support the Confederate cause for this reason.
The whole war was two sides fighting for different reasons. Yes, Lincoln did not intend on freeing the slaves. However, what matters is not what Lincoln would have done. What matters is what the southern elites and plantation owners were thinking. What matters is the mindset and reasoning for which they were thinking on. They felt that Lincoln, a northerner and an 1860s Republican, would free the slaves.
I'm going to sound very cold, but I'm looking at this from a perspective of family history. They might have had "the right" to secede. However, WHY they wanted to secede is more important to me than anything. It is important because I am the one who has ancestors who were slaves in the Deep South. If I had been living in 1860, I would have been a slave.
Personally, I don't care what the South's interests were, especially if they came at the expense of my own ancestors. If the South's economy fell because of the emancipation of the slaves, then so be it. Freedom is more important to me than anything. If I had been living back then, I would not have cared what happened to the South's economy. I would have been the one toiling for someone else's wealth and not benefiting. New Hampshire's state motto "Live Free or Die", that is the way I look at this. One reason I view the Confederate flag the way I do. The Confederate cause is not the cause that would have helped me at all.
If we combine all the other responses, it looks like the flags should stay and nobody should care about this laughing matter.
I would say
1.What could be, What once was, What is
2.Another time, another way of life, that we had to move from in order to achieve peace.
I wouldn't mind if we all Voted for the reversal to redesign the American flag to look like the confederate. This idea, from an non-European person. Like take turns with hanging the design of flags. It would be an new movement.
However an flag represents the face of nation and pride. This flag represents American history being told. Another thing....Southerners have an speaking manor that is only in the USA. So it could also represent language of English.
Sometimes wish the nation was renamed to it's native American name, instead of an man who name rymes with
Growing up it represented a period of history long past but in recent years it has come to represent to me the split between liberals and conservatives.
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