Ok, I'm gonna express my views on the subject of the Confederate Battle Flag and what it's like to be a direct decendant of not one, but two Confederate soldiers who fought for their homes and came home alive, against all odds. I'm proud of them, and I know they did what they felt was necessary to protect all they had built and cherished. That's why I fly the flag.
Now......Here comes the lengthy part. Those of you who bore easily of historical recollection may want to forego this part of the entry and simply move on to later blog posts (where I don't get as preachy). As for the whole slavery issue and whatnot... let's take a look back before the war between the states began, shall we?
Envision a tall and youthful gentleman, addressing a rather large and prominent group of law makers. This gentleman would later be revered by many as the Great Emancipator. The man's name? Abraham Lincoln. The subject? Seccession. Let's read the heart-felt and powerful words of this young gentleman who someday hoped to be elected President.
"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable – a most sacred right – a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world." - Abraham Lincoln, 1848The following educational and factual exerpt was taken from http://www.daily-web.info/forums where an Administrator by the username of FASherman gave this summation of what led to southern secession and why it was perfectly Constitutional;
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"...In 1828, Congress imposed a series of high and unfair tariffs on the South. Because the South's economy depended mostly on farming and trade, these tariffs were very unfair. The tax caused more money to leave the South than to be brought in because their imports cost more than their exports. When this tariff, known as the
Tariff of Abominations, was put into effect, the South spent a total of $331 million on their imports while the North paid only $31 million. This great difference existed because the South did more trade with Europeans than the North. Since the tariffs could not be abolished, Southern states passed
Nullification Laws, and threatened secession to protect their economy.
1. We don't exist in an environment of "majority rule" but rather we live under the rule of law. The ultimate law is the Constitution. Three states (Virginia, North Carolina and Rhode Island) ratified the Constitution with the provision that they could later secede if they chose; the other ten states accepted this condition as valid for not only those three, but all states.
2. The two primary authors of the Constitution, Hamilton and Madision, in the Federalist, hoped secession would never happen, but they never denied that it was a right and a practical possibility. They envisioned the people taking arms against the federal government if it exceeded its delegated powers or invaded their rights, and they admitted that this would be justified. Secession, including the resort to arms, was the final remedy against tyranny. This belief lead to of the Second Amendment.
3. Long before he ran for president, Lincoln himself had twice affirmed the right of secession and even armed revolution. His scruples changed when he came to power. Only a few weeks after taking office, he wrote an order for the arrest of Chief Justice Roger Taney, who had attacked his unconstitutional suspension of habeas corpus. His most recent biographer has said that during Lincoln’s administration there were “greater infringements on individual liberties than in any other period in American history.”
4. In the first half of the 19th century, every cadet at West Point was taught constitutional law by the Pennsylvania abolitionist William Rawle, whose book on the Constitution argued that there was indeed a constitutional right to secession. Thus it should come as no surprise that Southern West Point officers had no doubt about the right of their states to secede, returning to their states to defend the new CSA.
5. Most Americans – North and South – believed in a state's right to secede, as judged by the 1,000 Northern newspaper articles surveyed by historian Howard Cecil Perkins in his book, "Northern Editorials on Secession."
6. Mr. William Rawle, a distinguished lawyer and jurist of Pennsylvania, in his work on the
Constitution, says, "It depends on the State itself to retain or abolish the principle of representation, because it depends on itself whether it will continue a member of the Union. To deny this right would be inconsistent with the principles on which all our political systems are founded, which is that the people have in all cases a right to determine how they will be governed."
7. And finally, we come to SCOTUS. In the case of the
Bank of Augusta against Earle, 13 Peters, 590-592, it was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1939, "They are
sovereign States.... We think it well settled (says the Court) that by the law of comity among nations a corporation created by one sovereign is permitted to make contracts in another, and to sue in its courts, and that the same law of comity prevails among the several
sovereignties of this Union." If a state is a sovereignty within a Union, then it does not loose its right to withdraw from that Union.
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So you see... the south had every right to secede from a governmental system that they felt misrepresented them. This misrepresentation was painfully evident in the unbalanced tariff rates listed above.
Now lets see what the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, thought of slavery and the black man. This is documented historical FACT.
In 1858 Lincoln had written: "
I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races. I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people. There is a physical difference between the white and black races, which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality."In his 1860 inaugural address, he said:
"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."Two years later, President Lincoln wrote:
"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union" - (Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862)Wow... now there's a real saint. While slavery
was a problem within the southern states, and was/is morally wrong, it was also a problem up north as well. However, the usage of slaves was very limited by southerners. Shocked? Here's why.
Slaves were expensive. A slave was not only expensive to attain, but also to transport. A slave was expensive to purchase at market. Then you had to ensure their health so that they could work for you. A slave could marry and have children, and then there were more slaves to support. Slaveholders had to be financially secure with an abundance of workable land by which to maintain that wealth and support the workers. 9/10ths of the entirety of the southern states' slave-based labor plantations were in the hands of a very small few. Most white citizens of the southern states were far too poor to afford a slave, much less the upkeep of one. Let me give you an idea...
The following was taken from Corpus Christi Online: ( http://www.caller2.com/mgivens/single18.html )
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Prime field hands sold on the New Orleans market for up to $2,000. Women and children, depending on their training, could cost as much as $1,000.
Put those prices in context: In pre-Civil War Corpus Christi, you could buy a good horse for $10, ranchland sold from 50 cents to $2 an acre, and town lots sold for $100.
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One slave was like buying a luxury car by today's standards. Could
you afford even one Mercedes Benz? How about 5? Consider that.
Historical Fact: Not a single battle for secession was ever fought on Northern soil. The South never invaded...it merely defended. We lost an invasion, based upon illegal actions taken by a greedy government, and then President... and enforced by the convenient application of popular morality. So I fly my flag in memory of my ancestors who stood amongst their Southern bretheren. Stood amongst them to defend their homes...their families...their livelyhood...and their future...against the slow strangling of the southern economy. My ancestors never owned a slave in their life. And any southerner of the time still loved Old Glory and didn't want to fight against her. It's well documented.
May that tattered old battle flag fly proudly right along side Old Glory. Because those who know history, love both flags... One flew for might...one flew for Right. Sometimes "right" isn't understood until much much later.
God bless their souls...north and south. May their souls find rest.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I've recently quit smoking. While I enjoyed smoking and it was somewhat pleasureable, I know that I was playing with my life. I was affecting those around me not only with the very real threat to my own health and well-being... but by subjecting them to the deadly hazards of passive second-hand smoke. I hope that my poor choices haven't adversely affected them in some way. The good news, however, is that I am now 6 days...smoke-free!!