Monday, June 29, 2015

More on the Confederate Flag Flap


Banning the Confederate flag and battle flag battle continues to heat up.  Some argue that secession and the Civil War were about state’s rights and individual liberty.  , “’Most mainstream historians now agree that slavery was the leading reason driving the conflict. From, among other sites, the Christian Science Monitor:
First; “Slavery is the major cause of the Civil War,” said James I. Robertson, a Civil War historian at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in Blacksburg. “There are people ... who will argue to the sky that slavery was just a byproduct, but without slavery, there was no cause for the North and the South to start killing each other.’” Robertson was born, raised and educated in the South.

See also Confederate VP Alexander Stephens’ “Cornerstone Speech.”

What was the ‘state right’ involved?  The right of states to authorize and protect slavery.  White supremacy and the Bible were the the main theories used to justify the practice. What was the individual liberty involved?  The right of white people to own black people. 

3 comments:

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  2. Southern states pulled out of the Union as they believed federal authorities posed a real threat to their domestic affairs. This, of course, was the profane economy of slave labor, IMO, slavery was the catalyst for secession, but not the cause of civil war. If Lincoln had respected southerners' perceived right to withdraw from the union, there never would have been a war. Lincoln's primary objective was to keep the union together at all costs. Including allowing slavery to continue in the south. Emancipation wasn't even a consideration until well after the war had started. I'm not backing the south's institutionalized racism and slave culture. That part of southern society was absolutely despicable. Robert E. Lee didn't care much for slavery and never fought to defend it. He and his fellow Virginians stood in defense of their homeland against the central governments aggressive overreach. This same rationale drove the compromise at the original constitutional convention. Regarding the Confederate's battle flag, the logic of those calling for its removal is flawed. Claiming this historic symbol drives racism is like saying firearms are responsible for criminal acts.

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  3. As a Texan, my sentiments regarding the confederacy follow those of Mr. Samuel Houston. From Wikipedia, " ...'Sam' Houston (March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American politician and soldier, best known for his role in bringing Texas into the United States as a constituent state. ...[H]e was also the only governor within a future Confederate state to oppose secession (which led to the outbreak of the American Civil War) and to refuse an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy... .". My strong belief is in the respective States' rightful "constituent" autonomy under our constitutional republic's vertical separation of powers. Federalism provides a protective framework for liberty. Sadly, "States rights" has been debased by social progressives who, IMO, have moved the country closer to totalitarian rule. Central government's domestic overreach was the primary reason Texas separated from Mexico in 1836.

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