In a recent history course that covered the civil war and the culture of the south during that time I learned things that are usually left out in discussions on this topic. I have heard many argue that the civil war had nothing to do with slavery but dealt soley with the subject of "States right." Lets look at this claim of states rights as being the only reason for the civil war.
The conflict that the south encountered while attempting to spread slavery throughout the country was that the Northerners didnt want slavery to expand. The reason for the Norths resistance to slavery was not one of humanitarian cause. The sole exception to expansion was economics. The Northerners were concerned that free slave labor would keep them from getting jobs and that they could not compete with southerners leasing slave labor to factories for substandard wages. The thought of expansion threatened the stability of the American economy and threatened the ability of good hard-working whites to find job to support their families. This claim is backed by the fact that Africans that escaped to the north for freedom met hostile "Concerned" whites that took Black lives in the same fashion as their Southern counter-parts.
There were a myriad of acts commited on the side of the South and the North to gather Free states and slave states and for the sake of time and not wanting to hold History class I will make it plain.. Understanding all of the circumstances that led to the withdrawal of the Southern states, the underlying issue was that Southerners left the union because they could not take their enslaved Africans and expand their cashcrop of human beings.
The symbol of the Souths seceding from the union was the confederate flag. This flag represented the sub-human behavior of individuals to go to war to keep another race of humans in servitude. Th confederate flag also became a symbol of treason (e.g. Violation of ones allegiance to his sovereign or to the state). The South was part of an cohesive allegiance of states boasting independence and the love of freedom. When threatened economically this allegiance became secondary and the aspirations of a many with Africans as slaves chose war instead of the soveriegnty of this country.
Today misled individuals claim that it is Southern heritage that they fight for when flying the flag. They claim that the flag represents the resistance to big government. Some even have the audacity to claim that Blacks should fly the flag because they fought on the side of the South. The truth of the matter is that Blacks fought to obtain freedom promised to them for fighting, which never materialized afterwards.
If you want to fly the confederate flag of treason, you have the right to do so. You have the right to fly any odd-ball symbol you desire but do not claim to be an American and fly a flag that celebrates the seceding of states from America and the enslavement of a American citizens.
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