You Lost - Get Over It

[squirrelcsi]

Why in the heck anyone would be proud to be of Confederate ancestory boggles the mind. But it appears in Florida we're having a rash of controversy over the old Confederate Navy Jack flag or the Southern Cross. (The Confederacy had a slew of flags and the one most seen today is the Navy Jack, not The Stars and Bars.) First they want a commerative

Comments

[nick_soapdish]

I'm with you absolutely 100% on this.

In my view, what the Civil War was about gets played down waaaay too much in the history textbooks. While I was growing up, I actually bought a Confederate flag to hang on my wall (crossed by an American flag to sorta represent the war). I did two biographical reports on Confederate generals (Lee and Stonewall) and all of my sources barely mentioned slavery. From the textbooks, I mainly remember the emphasis on the Emancipation Proclamation as being for political points only and that Lincoln had said that if he could end the war without freeing a single slave that he would. The actual end of slavery was presented as more of an incidental thanks to the out-of-control Radical Republicans.

And I should probably cut myself off there.

[squirrelcsi]

The way I see it, the Confederacy is American history, but NOT Southern culture or heritage. Being from the South doesn't mean embracing the old confederacy. One can take pride in being from the South while admitting that what some of the ancestors fought for wasn't a noble cause.

And I should have said "The Confederacy wanted to keep slavery legal." Not everyone in the South was a slave owner or approved of slavery. I'll make sure to edit that.

[amyura]

I wrote me tenth-grade term paper on how the Civil War was more about two different economies and lifestyles than about slavery per se. The arguments I used included documentation of Northern racism, Lincoln's keeping slavery legal in northern states after 1863, Jeffersonian democracy, and the industrial revolution. I got a 95%, but my teacher wrote something along the lines of, "Great writing, but you're dead wrong-- it was about slavery."

I agree 100% with you. It'd be like me, with my German and Italian ancestry, being proud of how the trains ran on time under Mussolini, and the "science" experiments conducted by Mengele. Screwed up and just plain WRONG.

Have you seen the League of the South? That's some serious screwed-up-ness.

[squirrelcsi]

Were there other aspects to the Civil War? Sure - the Southern states hated the tariffs set by Washington at the time. And it's not like the Northern states had a stellar record on relations with blacks, either. Many have also pointed out that Lincoln would have done whatever it took to preserve the union and rebuild it, and even kept slavery on the table until political pressure forced him into emancipating. But the main reason for the war was still slavery.

And man, talk about a bunch of wanna-be Johnny Rebs. Anybody who puts the biographies of Nathan Bedford Forrest as suggested reading isn't working with a full deck.

[nick_soapdish]

Well, it's half true

[undead_rtwa]

According to research I did back in college, the north was slowly cultivating an industrial economy and the south an agrarian economy. However, the north had a surplus population and the south had a population shortage. Rather than do what made sense, and relocate some northerners to the south and solve both of their problems at once, people starved to death in the north when they couldn't get jobs, and the south bought more and more slaves. Eventually, business owners in the north who were running factories realized that if the south could prop up their ultimately doomed economy by using slaves, they could get filthy stinking rich by using slaves. Of course, this meant that unemployment in the north would skyrocket, but the industrial barons didn't care much. However, the people DID care and started exerting political pressure to eliminate slavery. Not because slavery was morally repugnant, but because they wanted to work. As the debate started to get more heated, the south fought against them because their economy was so

[southerndave]

... All I'm thinking of at the moment, is "Let this Hurst bloke go over to Nigeria and try telling them about how the Biafran flag and everything associated with it is part of Nigerian heritage and history and culture"...

[squirrelcsi]

I'll probably need you to elaborate on this, as African history isn't my speciality.

[southerndave]

... Now I'm feeling old, because part of it was during my lifetime (and possibly during your beloved's lifetime as well). Fairly much same story, different continent. South-eastern corner of republic secedes; newly created state lasts for about four years (long enough to have its own postal service - and stamps, even!) before collapse and reintegration after decisive defeat.

[catcapone]

Wow, I'm in awe. I don't even know what to say to this. I don't understand why the war isn't over. Despite the fact that it is.

Hey - its Alexis, saying hello. I know its been awhile. But I try to keep up.

take it easy.

Catcapone, aka Neko aka Alexis