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"This law ... makes it a rich man's war and a poor man's fight."
Confederate Private Jasper Collins speaking to Newton Knight about the "Twenty-Negro Law," which exempted planters who owned 20 or more slaves from Confederate enlistment.
So the wealthy plantation owners whipped the south into levying war agains the U.S. (treason) in order to keep their slaves/wealth and then exempted themselves from the battle.
Perhaps there's another aspect that isn't being discussed:
Whether or not the Confederate flag implies racism, it certainly implies treason.
Meh. Our esteemed FF's were traitors to England, and my own Texas heroes were traitors to Mexico. The Confederates states wanted a split from the Union states, as many do today. They weren't attempting to help England or Mexico destroy the United States, they just wanted out of the political arrangement.
The flags and statues of southern generals stand as testimony that while brother fought brother, the nation came together and healed.
Yeah, sure. Fact: The flags went up over state capitols not shortly after the war, but in the 1960s when the civil rights struggle was at its highest. A deliberate middle finger to those who got uppity and wanted to be served at the same lunch counter.
Meh. Our esteemed FF's were traitors to England, and my own Texas heroes were traitors to Mexico. The Confederates states wanted a split from the Union states, as many do today. They weren't attempting to help England or Mexico destroy the United States, they just wanted out of the political arrangement.
Couple of differences, but the big one is that they won.
Confederates lost.
History is typically written by the winners not the losers.
Couple of differences, but the big one is that they won.
Confederates lost.
History is typically written by the winners not the losers.
That is true. Victors write history, and the larger industrial nation subdued the smaller agrarian one. But this doesn't change the fact that there is little difference between the traitorous actions of the FF's and the desire of the Southerners to follow suit and leave the Union to form their own nation. Less traitorous by the Rebs actually. In those days ones loyalty started with ones state. The Union was a political abstract comprised of an alliance of sovereign states. Folks like Lee remained loyal to their first love, their state. Lee actually did not want the South to secede, but when his state did, he made the decision to remain loyal to his state and follow them out of the political arrangement known as the United STATES.
Do you feel that displaying the confederate flag symbolizes racism or heritage? Why?
There are only two things the Confederate battle flag has ever been used to symbolize: 1.remembering the Confederate army as a military group 2.blatant anti-black anti-minority racism.
There are some who would argue that the first boils down to the second, in practice.
I think it depends on different individuals. Not everybody displays the flag is a racist.
I grew up in the heart of Dixie and I can tell you exactly what that flag stood for. It ain't pretty.
I was in elementary school in the late 60's when they were integrating the Alabama schools. The Confederate flag was used early and often to discourage black students.
No, it isn't pretty. When I went to visit my cousins in Huntsville, Alabama they always had the Stars and Bars tacked up across one of the walls of their shared room. I was stunned at their casual racism which they seemed to think everyone else shared. I will also never forget my surprise when I walked with my Grandma down the main street of a little town in Kentucky, and the African Americans we encountered going the other way would step off the sidewalk and go around us by walking in the gutter? I feel that some members of my family are very racist while others are very progressive and open. Then there's the Dog Patch crowd, and they're just real confused.
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I feel that some members of my family are very racist while others are very progressive and open. Then there's the Dog Patch crowd, and they're just real confused. 
