The Civil War had very little to do with slavery.
Well, at least that is talking point spewed by nearly 1,000 historical revisionists that descended upon downtown Montgomery, Alabama on Saturday. The group of Confederacy worshipers raised the rebel flag on the capitol lawn and had a mock swearing-in of Jefferson Davis. As the fake Davis sashayed up to the podium, some of the pro-Confederacy crowd bellowed, “God bless you, Mr. President” and “Long live Dixie”.
Like today’s social conservatives, the Confederate crowd tried to play the victim. According to The Advertiser, Lt. Commander in Chief Kelley Barrow compared his movement’s alleged persecution to that suffered by civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
He went on to mention Rosa Parks, stating while she moved from the back of the bus to the front, the “people of the Confederacy have been forced to move to the back of the bus.”
These poor misunderstood victims. How will they go on and survive in such a hostile climate?
I happened to be in Montgomery for Truth Wins Out’s “Winter Tour” and witnessed this unpatriotic disgrace. The participants were in severe denial about what they called, “The War of Northern Aggression”.
“People today aren’t educated about the war and since history is written by the winners, the truth may never by told,” Robert Bentley of Muscle Shoals told The Montgomery Advertiser.
If it were only so simple. Unfortunately, the losers have been writing countless tomes attempting to spin and justify the grotesque bigotry of the Confederacy. I personally overheard several people make the inaccurate claim that the Civil War was not about slavery, but state’s rights.
Cute. In reality it was about state’s rights — in so much as the southern states wanted the right to continue the sickening slave trade. If anyone doubts that slavery was central to the Civil War, skip all the propaganda and go right to the secession resolutions in state’s like South Carolina.
The facts don’t lie. The evidence is simply too overwhelming and robust to come to any other conclusion. Yet, the local newspaper, The Montgomery Advertiser, repeated the lie that the causes for the war were inconclusive.
The reasons for the Civil War have been widely debated, with the controversy surrounding the event Saturday due to the war’s connection to slavery.
Only a “connection” to slavery? Isn’t that like saying the Waffle House is only “connected” to waffles, rather than the source? The New York Times series, Disunion lays waste to the notion that slavery was not central to the Civil War. Here is one of several excerpts:
Following South Carolina’s prompting, representatives of the seceded states met in Montgomery, Ala. on Feb. 4, and they adopted a provisional constitution that explicitly recognized racial slavery on Feb. 8…..The Carolinian commissioners urged the speedy creation of a southern nation and conveyed a united message in their speeches to the secession conventions of the cotton states. The North and the Republicans stood for “the social principle that equality is the right of man,” according to Spratt, but the slave South embodied the “social principle that equality is not the right of man, but the right of equals only. ”
Truth be told, the Civil War was about buying and selling human beings. The people who defended this moral abomination are not chivalrous, nor honorable. Those who defended the Confederacy were traitors whose heritage includes the deep stain of slavery and Jim Crow.
Such a legacy is nothing to celebrate. The people at the rally should, instead, bow their heads in shame and sorrow for instigating a war that killed tens of thousands and supported bigotry of the most heinous kind.
When you hear conservatives talk about “state’s rights” in the context of LGBT equality — never forget where this ugly refrain came from.
I just love how in this photo the successful black professional is smiling down on the defeated, un-groomed Confederacy fan. I think this picture captures why these people are living in the past. In the old days, the white guy would hold power over this black man, by virtue of his color. Now he must compete with him for jobs and status. And, judging from this picture, who would you rather hire or have a drink with?
Even to say that the causes of the civil war have been “debated” is inaccurate. The truth is documented, and many racists propagandize against the truth. That is not a debate.
Scott — good point. Irrational distortions which have no basis in historical fact, is not debate.
The Southern leaders and Southern newspapers screamed from the rooftops what their demands and motivations were — the SPREAD of slavery. Over, and over and over. And over.
Just read the Southern newspapers – such as Richmond in March of 1861, where they printed the Southern Ultimatums, with the headlines “THE TRUE ISSUE”.
All Five Southern Ultimatums were about the spread of slavery, AGAINST the wishes of the people and states. Gone by March of 1861 was even the pretense, the fig leaf, the charace, of “state’s rights”. When push came to shove, the Southern leaders issued war ultimatums that states NOT be allowed to decide, that slavery must be “accepted and respected”.
When Lincoln refused to obey the ultimatums, the South attacked.
That is not debatable, because the Southern leaders and newspapers bragged about it at the time. I take them at their word.
Very good opinion piece, Wayne. However, a slight correction should be made. The Southern States did not instigate a war that killed “tens of thousands.” Rather, “hundreds of thousands.” Over half a million to more precise. And that’s only the combatents I believe. That figure does not include the non-combatents that died of disease and malnutrition in the aftermath of horrific battles. Regardless, this is nothing that any Southern should be proud of.
Seriously?
*facepalm*
Wayne Besen I have been following the net for the last 15 years and I can swear on the Bible that the Commander is right on. Every single day there is bashing and trashing of our people. The nasacp and potok splc being the most racist, none of you would tolerate for a minute if I said rosa parks was groomed for the job and taught in the communist school in Tennessee to play her part. Yes it is true look it up but I still cannot say it without being buried in a pile of dung. We will never lay down our FLAG to people of your ilk.
The nasacp and potok splc
Could someone help me understand these acronyms please. Not familiar with them, or is this just more Southern speak for BullS–T?
When the hell has there ever been a “communist” school in Tennessee? What was the name of the school and Mrs. Parks would not have had to “play her part”. if it had not been for the creation of racist Jim Crow laws. Let me get this straight, the South came up with Jim Crow and you attack a Civil Rights hero for standing up for her rights as an American? Seems you must have been buried under that “dung” for a long time because you speak a lot of BS.
nascap – probably the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; potok splc – Mark Potok, spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center which has done much to unmask and put the spotlight on hate groups throughout the country. The SPLC has recently identified several more antigay hate groups in the country. They sued the KKK some years ago and won the lawsuit and their offices have been vandalized by hate groups over the years.
Josephine Southern doesn’t have much to worry about from these groups other than the light of truth. She is not the one who has been physically attacked. One thing to keep in mind about Rosa Parks is that she didn’t just sit in the front of the bus because she was tired. She had been working for civil rights for some time before that critical day.
Josephine said “if I said rosa parks was groomed for the job and taught in the communist school in Tennessee to play her part.”.
You seem to think there would be something wrong if she had been taught to and was playing a part – there would not be.
Yup. Rosa Pasrks didn’t really want freedom and equality. she was interested only in the destruction of….
wait. Shere have ?I head this before? Oh, yes. gay people don’t really want marriage, we want to attack the family.
The more things chnge, the more hey stay the same.
How does someone “follow the net”? LMAO
No wonder those delicate hot house flowers lost the Civil War. I’m surprised they got this far north, what with all the whining because the Union forces kept shooting at them. To say nothing of the constant complaints about sore tootsies and yucky food.
I think Josephine should have spent more time at one of those communist schools
Josephine honey, it is time you removed your head from your a*s and recognized the fact that the Confederate flag is nothing more or less than a symbol of a time in this country’s history where racism ruled the day.
As to the “states’ rights” question, the Civil War was about states’ rights only insofar as it pertained to the Southern states’ claimed right to continue owning other human beings as property. The bottom line remains that the War was about slavery. Period.
And anyone who displays the Confederate flag as a gesture of “Southern pride” is either too stupid to remember their history or is secretly nursing a deep resentment that (s)he can no longer own his/her own personal slaves.
I can see the points made, and yes slavery was the main cause. The northern states were trying to gain more support for the abolition of slavery by inducting in new states as free states. There was a bunch of crap but slavery and states rights was at issue. It was the question of where does the federal government’s powers end and the state’s powers begin question. Granted, what prompted that was slavery which is one of the ugliest things that has tarnished the South even today. I’m proud to be from the south there is a lot of rich history that does get overlooked for the abhorrent stain of slavery, but I think that the history as a whole needs to be looked at. Since now we are seeing such virulent homophobia not just from “ignorant” southerners but also from northerners easterners westerners and everyone in between. Also, I will state this, the Confederates were dumbasses plain and simple. They had plenty of great generals (who really didn’t want any part of it but felt they had to stand up for their home state) and amazing statesmen…but they don’t pick of those people to lead they pick well Jefferson Davis.
Also, spend any time in the South the civil war is regarded as the war of northern aggression. Anywhere in the south and I’m sure the north has their term for it too.
“people of the Confederacy have been forced to move to the back of the bus.”
That’s where they belong. Hopefully before long the anti-gay troglodytes will be joining them.
Yeah. “The Civil War.”
Those who insist that the Civil War was all about state’s rights are probably among those who insist that the anti-gay culture war is all about protecting religious freedom.
@16 – A massive generalization that collapses under the weight of a little thought. South of the M/D line here in Maryland, we say the Civil War.
My relatives who still live in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Georgia also use the Civil War. But you see, THEIR great-grandparents didn’t see the Union forces as the enemy.
See I thought there was a separate term for it, I’ve heard it as the civil war and I’ve heard the war of northern aggression. Granted the civil war more since I spend more time in museums then is healthy. But I’ve never lived in the north. Heck its not a term I picked up from relatives its a term that I’ve heard, do I believe it? Heck I think it’s a fading dying term but I’ve heard it a lot of places in the south.
It would be helpful if I actually finished thoughts, do I believe it? No in fact I don’t care who was the “aggressor” I’m just glad I live in a place where equality did eventually and will always eventually win out.
Really what is the significant difference between the confederate stars and bars and the german swastika? Just curious.
I was born and raised in the rural south (Georgia). My parents were from rural Mississippi. I have never heard anyone refer to it as anything but the Civil War.
Jack:
I am from Florida. I have lived in Texas. We all know that a subset of people call it “The War of Northern Aggression”.
I think historian Sharon Krossa put it best when she was detailing numerous errors in the beginning of the film “Braveheart;” she took exception to the line “history is written by those who have hanged heroes.” Her response: “history is written by the literate, be they victors or vanquished, whether they have hanged heroes or followed them.” “History is written by the winners” is a lame cliché.
I’ll be the first to say the south has a lot to be proud of, Faulkner,Capote,Jack Daniels, etc, but the civil war is not one of them.
No one bothers to write about all the people of the south that opposed the Civil War. No one writes about the hundreds of thousands of deserters who went back home to help save their property and their starving family. This “War Of Northern Aggression” crap, and the idea of total support of the Civil War by the south is pure historical revisionism. Once again, it was the racists ans various elites of the south that sold the “Myth of ‘The South’.”.
People do not know their history. Here the losers built up a mythology.
[...] From Truth Wins Out: http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/2011/02/14852/ [...]
@Kim S
“How does someone “follow the net”? LMAO”
HAHAHAHA, I think we have a new candidate for I Am Aware Of All Internet Traditions!
@Emma exactly. I love the South. Absolutely love it. But I love it like a grown up loves it, acknowledging the good, bad and the very, very ugly in our history. Confederate-loving morons like the one described in the story love it like 4 year olds love Mommy.
7.When the hell has there ever been a “communist” school in Tennessee? What was the name of the school and Mrs. Parks would not have had to “play her part”. if it had not been for the creation of racist Jim Crow laws. Let me get this straight, the South came up with Jim Crow and you attack a Civil Rights hero for standing up for her rights as an American? Seems you must have been buried under that “dung” for a long time because you speak a lot of BS.
Comment by Kim S — February 21, 2011 @ 5:13 am
JosephineSouthern is just parroting right-wing crapaganda about the ‘communist school in Tennessee’. In the mid-’50s, Rosa Parks attended a workshop on civil rights at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. Desegregation attempted to paint the school, which also held training workshops for unions and workers, as ‘Communist’, just as they tried to depict the Rev. MLK Jr. as one.
These revisionists make me want to throw up. My family are more southern than pretty much any other. Landed at Jamestown (the very first boat to the very first American colony of the English, over a decade before the pilgrims), plantation owners, fought for the confederacy (mainly) and I still live in the south.
It was about slavery. The “States right” in question? The right to own slaves.
Most of the problems in this country can be traced to the poorest, least educated,highest highs school drop out rate, most backward, most fundamentalist, most backward looking part of the county; the south. There IS a lot to love! Great climate, beaches, artery clogging but delicious cooking, etc.
But, my ancestors fought that war for the right to own people. Pure and simple. We should at least have the decency to be honest about it..and ashamed of a war that could have split up a nation that, while far from perfect, became the nation most of call home, and a lot more people would like to.
Celebrating the “honor” of the confederacy? My ancestors fought for it, so I can say it for a fact and with great shame knowing my family history; the “honor” is PURE b******t, and the guy comparing the poor oppressed Confederate obcessed fools to Rosa Parks is TOTAL FOOL.
Okay people, for the last time, “Gone With the Wind”
was not a documentary
Emma — funny stuff!
The real history of the lead up to the Civil War is far more violent and cruel that we dare teach our kids, or even admit.
For example, the Dred Scott decision. Our text books tell our kids it was about “citizenship” for blacks.
Nonsense — the Dred Scott “decision” said that blacks were “so inferior” that no reasonable white man could POSSIBLY think a black had any rights from GOD!! That was preposterous!
In fact, blacks were SO INFERIOR they were not even human in eyes of the law, thanks to Dred Scott decision. They were no more human that a pile of lumber or a bucket of slop.
That is what Lincoln was telling us, over and over and over. Lincoln said this over and over. The Dred Scott decision was a corruption to make black mean and women into property – and NOTHING BUT PROPERTY. Lincon said this over and over.
We have whitewashed the horrors of slavery — for example, Lee had young girls tortured while he screamed at them. Yet we paint him as a lovely man. It takes a special kind of man to scream at a child while he has her whipped. He not only had this mulatto girl whipped while he screamed — he then sold her child, for extra punishment or extra cash, or both.
It’s really distgusting how we have covered up the horrors of what happened.
Even better, of course, is that these states’ rights enthusiasts also support DOMA, which spits in the face of states that have legalized same-sex marriage…
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Most of the soldiers in the Confederacy didn’t own slaves. Do you really think they would have laid down their lives for a bunch of “fat cat” plantation owners? I don’t think so. Don’t believe everything you read. The states “ultimatums” may have mentioned slavery but there was way more about the issue than just slavery. If you people removed your head from your a*s and looked into it and stopped reading only the opinions you like you would know that. All the so called prove is just a story.
Let me tell you a fact. The winner gets to tell the story.
Let me tell you a story that probably only southern people know. Do you know why we eat black-eyed peas on new years day for good luck? Because after the war the northern armies took all the food, and livestock. There wasn’t anything left bug pea’s but that they didn’t take because they considered them cow feed. So that was all the southern people had to eat.
If you only opened your mind the whole truth is not in the history books.
Thetruth — you are so ignorant, I hesitate to respond.
Most Nazi soldiers probably didn’t themselves kill Jews. Yet, they laid down their lives for Hitler. Most Republicans are getting screwed, yet they fight to give tax giveaways to “fat cat” billionaires.
It’s called propaganda — where the interests of the few are made to look like the interests of many.
In terms of the confederacy — all one has to do is look at the reasons each state gave for secession. It was about slavery, plain and simple. Anyone who says otherwise is an ignoramus that I have no respect for.