The War for Southern
Independence (or as the U.S. Congress officially
declared it to be -- The War Between the States;
it was not a "civil war") was fought
over slavery, with the North fighting to free
Southern slaves and the South fighting to keep her
slaves.
This is, of course, not true.
First
of all, all thirteen original states which seceded
from England in 1776 and which formed the United
States of America, from Maine (a part of
Massachusetts at that time) to Georgia, owned
slaves. Was the First American Revolution
fought over slavery. If not, then neither was the
Second American Revolution fought over slavery
when the Southern states withdrew from the Union
and formed the Confederate States of America. Is
the Fourth of July a racist holiday because all
thirteen original colonies had slaves? If not,
then neither are our Confederate holidays. Is the
U.S. flag a racist flag because all thirteen
original states had slaves? If not, then neither
is the Confederate battle flag a racist flag -- or
do these intolerant individuals and the news media
advocate taking down the U.S. flag as well? If
they do, then they will need to take down nearly
every national flag in the world, starting with
the flag of Nigeria in Africa. What blatant
bigotry to call the Confederate flag racist!
During the War for Southern Independence, many
in the North also had slaves, but refused to free
their slaves until after the War. People in
Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, West
Virginia, and even Washington, D.C., owned slaves;
these states never seceded and were under the
control of the United States throughout the course
of the entire War. However, they were not required
to free their slaves by the U.S. government. The
U.S. Congress in 1862 even refused to pass a
constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, when
the only Senators and Representatives in Congress
were from the North (all Southerners had left
Congress to form their own nation). How could the
North be fighting the War to free Southern slaves
when they would not free their own, such as
Ulysses S. Grant's personal slave or Abraham
Lincoln's father-in-law's slaves? What hypocrisy! Even
worse, Lincoln and the U.S. Congress offered to
pass a constitutional amendment for the South,
guaranteeing permanent slavery forever in the
slave states, if only the Southern states would
return to the Union. The South refused the offer.
Northern slaves were even exempt from Lincoln's
Emancipation
Proclamation. Furthermore, captured
Southern slaves on the Mississippi River were
forced to work on the plantations as slaves for
the United States Army, growing cotton for
Northern factories, rather than being set free.
Also, during the War, just as many Union soldiers
owned slaves as Confederate soldiers. Is the U.S.
flag a symbol of slavery because the North owned
slaves during the War? If not, then neither is the
Confederate battle flag a symbol of slavery. How
could the War have been fought over slavery when
both sides had slaves?
The War for Southern Independence was fought
over local self-government by the South versus
centralist government by the North; the centralist
government won and the local self government lost.
The Confederate battle flag is the symbol of the
right of the local people and the states to govern
themselves and is flown in memory and honor of our
Confederate ancestors and veterans who gave their
lives for less government, less taxes, and
Southern independence.
In his inaugural address of March 4, 1861,
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln stated, "I
have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
interfere with the institution of slavery in the
States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful
right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."
Furthermore,
Union General U.S. Grant said, "If I thought
this war was to abolish slavery, I would resign my
commission, and offer my sword to the other side."
A war over slavery? Not hardly!
The Confederate States of America even
offered to free all Southern slaves in return for
independence; Lincoln refused the offer. The
term "free state" meant free from
Blacks. Northerners did not want to live with
Blacks, slave or free, and many Northern states
and territories actually passed laws prohibiting
free Blacks from entering into them. Lincoln
himself stated the opinion of the Northern people
during a meeting with a group of Black leaders
during the War, saying, "There is an
unwillingness on the part of our people [Northern
Whites] to live with you free colored people.
Whether this is right or wrong, I am not prepared
to discuss, but it is a fact with which we must
deal. Therefore, I think it best for us to
separate." Acting upon this sentiment,
Abraham Lincoln and the United States Congress
purchased land, passed laws, and started shipping
free Northern Blacks out of the country down to
poverty-stricken Haiti. Lincoln put together
several such schemes to remove free Blacks from
the United States, to send some back to Africa and
some to Central and South America. At
the end of the War, a few weeks before Lincoln was
assassinated, Union General Benjamin Butler asked
him what he was going to do with all the recently
free Southern Blacks. To this Lincoln replied,
"I think we should deport them all."
Meanwhile, down South, Confederate States
President Jefferson Davis and his wife Varina were
adopting an eight-year-old free Black orphan boy
named Jim Limber. After his mother died, little
Jim was placed with a free Black family as foster
parents. However, this family badly mistreated him
to such a degree that the news reached the ears of
the President and Mrs. Davis, who, in the middle
of the War, took the time and effort to intercede
and rescue Jim from this child abuse. Little Jim's
wounds were doctored and he was welcomed into the
Confederate White House as a member of the Davis
family. President Davis himself went to court in
Richmond and had free papers registered on Jim
Limber, so he would always be free. Even when our
President was on his way to prison for trying to
obtain independence and self-government for the
Southern people, he made arrangements and provided
for Jim Limber's future education and care. In
the Old South it was not uncommon for Blacks to
take in orphaned Whites or for Whites to take in
orphaned Blacks. There was a relationship between
Blacks and Whites that Northerners even today do
not understand or appreciate.
The War for Southern Independence was fought
over the right of the local people to govern
themselves versus a centralist government by the
few, the rich, and the powerful. The South
wanted less government, less taxes, independence,
and decisions made at the local level where the
people have control. The North wanted more taxes,
more government, and centralism, with a compulsory
union at bayonet point and decisions made in
Washington D.C. rather than by the local people.
The South stood on the principles of the
Southerner Thomas Jefferson, who in the Declaration
of Independence, stated, "Governments are
instituted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed; that, whenever
any form of government becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the right of the people to alter
or to abolish it, and to institute a new
government." In other words, the people
should control the government, not the government
controlling the people. The North stood on the
principles of the Northerner Alexander Hamilton,
who believed that government should be ruled by an
intellectual aristocracy, maintained by the
enlightened self-interest of the wealthy rather
than the common people, governing themselves. Northern
Abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison,
burned the U.S. Constitution in the
streets, calling it "a pact with the
devil." Lincoln likewise brutally violated
nearly every article and amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, throwing over 35,000 Northern
Citizens in prison as political prisoners,
including state legislators, without cause or
trial, as well as, violently closing a dozen
opposition newspapers and suppressing freedom of
speech.
President
Jefferson Davis and the Confederate States
Congress never did such things. The Southern
people took the U.S. Constitution with them
when they voluntarily withdrew from the voluntary
Union and brought forth upon this continent, a new
nation, where the right of the local people to
govern themselves was protected.
Just as with the War for American Independence
of 1776, the War for Southern Independence of 1861
was fought over "taxation without
representation." The North was constantly
trying to raise taxes on Southerners through high
tariffs on imported goods, in order to protect the
inefficient big businesses in the North which
could not compete with manufactured goods from
England and France with whom the South traded
cotton. The South did not have factories and had
to import most finished products.
The Industrial Revolution allowed England and
France to produce and ship across the Atlantic
products that were cheaper than the products
Northern manufacturers, who refused to modernize,
could produce with their White child labor-
ten-year-old children working sixteen hours a day
in "sweat shops" for mere pennies and
sleeping in the streets. Slaves in the South were
treated much better than child laborers in the
North.
When the taxes on imports were rejected, rich
big businessmen in the North were promised that,
if elected, Lincoln would drastically raise the
import tax. That is why the Southern states
quickly began to escape from the tax net that
Lincoln was spreading. Within Lincoln's first
month in office, the U.S. Congress had passed the
Morrill Tariff, which was the highest import tax
in U.S. history, more than doubling the import tax
rate from 20% to 47%, which was enough to bankrupt
many Southerners. This oppressive tax was what
pushed Southern states to legally withdraw from
the voluntary Union, not slavery.
Since
the Southerners had escaped the tax by withdrawing
from the Union, the only way the North could
collect this oppressive tax was to invade the
Confederate States and force them at gunpoint back
into the Union. It was to collect this import tax
to satisfy his Northern industrialist supporters
that Abraham Lincoln invaded our South and not to
free any slaves. Lincoln's war cost the lives of
600,000 Americans.
When Lincoln invaded Charleston and then
Virginia, all Southerners- Whites, Blacks,
Hispanics, Indians, Orientals, Protestants,
Catholics, Jews, rich and poor, male and female
almost to a person rose up and volunteered their
services in defense of the Confederate States of
America because all were going to suffer from this
horrible federal tax. Nowhere in the history
of movements of independence and self-government
have a people been so united in purpose and
dedicated to the cause of Independence. No, not
even in 1776 did the thirteen colonies receive
such support and sacrifice by the people, and that
war was fought over a 3% tax on tea!
My fellow Americans, the South was right! The
Confederate battle flag represents all Southerners
and even Northern Confederates from states such as
Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and others, who supported
the South and who even tried to secede from the
Union and form their own nation but whose efforts
for freedom were crushed by Lincoln's troops.
Confederate Indians, Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites
all received Confederate pensions after the War
and attended Confederate veterans' reunions
together, year after year, just as they had
suffered and fought together during the War. The
Confederate battle flag represents all
Confederates, regardless of race or religion, and
is the symbol of less government, less taxes, and
the right of a people to govern themselves. It is
flown in memory and honor of our Confederate
ancestors and veterans who willingly shed their
blood for Southern independence.