The Great Emancipator Said These ?

I take pride in my ancestors willingness to fight for what they believed was right. For them it was about the rights of each State to decide for itself what was in its best interest. They were right.

The war was a war of Northern aggression that had been brewing for some thirty years. It was about tariffs imposed by the federal government. It was about Northern dominance over the affairs of the Southern states. All of them - North and South - had been involved in slavery for generations before. It was just easier for some of the Northern states to abolish it sooner - not because they had the moral high ground - but because they didn't have the same economic consequences. Ending slavery was a sure fire way to bring the Southern states to their knees economically and that's what the Northern states really wanted. Even so, the Northern states continued to be involved in the slave trade right up until it's end. The abolitionists were among the most evil people of the time using random murder to put fear into the hearts of others and force their way. General Sherman conducted war in the South like as a tyrant inflicting completely unnecessary harm upon the civilian population that their property. Secretary of War Stanton was bent of revenge and vengeance on the South at the end of the war. Reconstruction was, in effect, deconstruction of the South and ushered in more corruption and violence and oppression than probably existed before it.

The Southern states had every right to leave the perpetual union if they so desired and that is what they desired. The Northern states forced them to remain part of the that union against the will of the states and their citizens. That's what the war was about. Slavery was nothing more than an excuse used to sell the idea that had already been settled in the minds of those that wanted it.

I often wish the South had won - not that I'm not loyal to the U.S.A. today - but that I think the states of the South was more representative of our original intent that those of the North. We would have ended slavery and improved the conditions for all citizens far better than anything the federal government ever did. We didn't need any stinking Yankees to make us do it. We would have also retained a greater portion of our Southern culture than we have given up to the compromises with the rest. We would have remained more American than our Northern friends ever hoped to be.

 

As I said, for most Rebels, it was not a fight for slavery, it was a fight for independence - in their minds self-defense. But thanks so much for your recommendations as to what their descendents "should" or "should not" take pride in. With your permission, I will continue to be proud of my Confederate g-g grandfathers who marched and fought for 4 years without shoes, blankets, or enough to eat, almost always faced with superior numbers. And in the same way, I'll continue to take pride in my other g-g grandfathers who sided with the north, who faced hardships of their own.

 

Very well said. I am not excited about slavery but States rights are important. and a correct rendering of history is as important.

 

Should Timothy McVeigh's family take pride in what he fought for.

Should Alger Hiss' decendents take pride in what he fought for. They may not belive in communism but, I guess, they should be proud that Alger fought for what he believed in by giving goverment documents to the Soviet Union. And if they fly a red flag with the sickle and hammer (soviet flag) then they are just supporting what Alger fought for, not that they support the Soviet Union, right.

 

The confederates were neither criminals nor communists. They also weren't violent abolishionists.

They were people that believed in the original intent that all powers not specially given to the federal government belonged to the people to keep for themselves or give to their states as they determined best within each state.

If the confederates had prevailed then today we'd have far less of the socialism that has taken hold of our nation through the federal government and perhaps the nation could have been reconciled under the better of the two philosophies and yet still be one USA.

 

Alright, go and tell the Shawnees or the Miamis that they have no right to be proud of their heritage. You can do it. Just make clear to them that their ancestors often scalped captives and then burned them at the stake. Surely they will apologize and grovel for forgiveness, and then put away all their old symbols.

 

We already discussed this around page 2 or 3.

Maybe it is time for them to just identify themselfs as Americans. What is wrong with just being American. What is the point of being American-Indian or African-American or Southern-American or Northern-American. Why not just American.