I'm sure a large number of Confederate soldiers felt like they were simply defending their homes and didn't really care about or maybe even opposed slavery.
However, there is the little matter of the battle of
Fort Sumter, the opening engagement of the Civil War. The Confederates fired first.
Why did they want independence and "State's Rights"?
What state right were they fighting for? The right to keep slaves. What was the difference in the economic system?
Slaves.
Sure, they had to be fed. But they did not have to be paid a wage.
From the Cornerstone Speech, Savannah, Georgia, 1861
its corner- stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition
Look at the Declaration from Texas, the state's reasoning for its secession:
That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states.
I understand that some folks could be as rednecky as all get-out, and still not be racist. I know some of them.
I realize that everyone has the right to pick a symbol they identify with.
To me that flag usually says "Yeah, I'm a rebel, I identify with the War Between the States, you know, that war that involved the ownership of human beings."
Just today I passed by a pickup with these bumper stickers:
Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Palin
American By Birth, Southern By The Grace Of God (with Battle Flag)
I think that guy is sending a message. Some might say, aw, it's just his Southern heritage. And like it or not, it is his right to display it.
The Battle Flag, like it or not, is a shorthand symbol for the South.
It's probably going to be a part of American heritage forever.
And the intent behind displaying the flag *can* vary.
It is interesting to see how its meaning can be used ironically.
Check out
Ludacris. (http://blogs.sohh.com/atlanta/archives/Luda.jpg - broken link)
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