| Our Southern Cause |
| In 1860-1861, the Confederate States of America decided that they, simply, were tired of being a part of the United States. Slavery had very, very little, if anything, to do with the breakup. The simple truth was that the Northern Aggressors were being largely unfair with regards to the South. Tariffs on goods caused raised prices paid by Southerners, and decisions to utilize these tariffs were made largely with total disregard to Southern well being. Overly-glorified abolitionists had little to do with the war; they were as much out of place in the North as they were in the South, and, in fact, blacks were treated just as bad, if not worse, in the North than they were on the plantations in Dixie. Bus alas, it is the victor that tells the final account, and perhaps this explains the fact that, over time, our Southern cause, and our heritage, has been attacked, and changed. Our teachers tell us that the Civil War was fought for slavery. They tell us in Elementary and Middle School that the South was fighting to keep slavery, and that the North was fighting to free the slaves. They ignore the fact that, in the Emancipation Proclomation, Lincoln clearly states that only those slaves in states taking part in the rebellion were to be freed. Often times, these slaves were forced, against their will, to fight for the Yankees that captured them. Our teachers ignore the fact that blacks willingly, and proudly, fought for the South. Unlike what we learn in school, the plantation owners were not really so wicked, and cruel, as they are made out to be. What reason did they have to be cruel? Southerners, by nature, are generally nice people, and their actions towards their slaves typified this; slaves were taken hunting, they were well fed, well clothed, and treated well. If this was not the case, would the slaves have worked for the plantation owners? If they were honestly whipped, beaten, and shot half as much as they are made out to be in our history and literature books, the slaves would have been far too sick to ever get out and pick any crops, or do any other work, and much less go out and fight for the Confederacy. Our history books tell us that blacks were not allowed to fight in the C.S.A, and they glorify the all-black 54th Massachussetts brigade. In high school, we are taught that blacks did, in fact, fight for the Confederacy, but it was not until 1864, when the South was desperate, that they did this. The truth is, the first Yankee killed in the war was killed by a black Southerner, and blacks were proud to fight for their home land. This issue requires more space than is available here, but for more information on black Confederates, here is one very good link: The Civil War, better described as the War of Northern Aggression, was not caused by slavery, nor was it caused by the first shots fired by Confederates at Fort Sumter. Rather, it was Abraham Lincoln's lack of action when he was asked by the Confederacy to remove U.S troops from the Fort. Lincoln, by taking action against a growing nation, eliminated our true freedom; he created the implied power that allowed the Federal Government to limit, and destroy, any mass movement of rebellion in the United States. He destroyed our right to secede as a result of dissagreement, and in doing so, brought the central powers of the United States up to be by far the most substantial ones. His actions led to the growth of the sad, sad transition from a citizen-led nation to a government-led nation; it defied the principles by which our nation was created, and thus, was the starting point of the desintigration of true democracy in our "great" land. The cause of the South, therefore, is to return to the States, and the people, the power of rebellion, and domination over government. This was the original issue; the central government of the United States was growing too quickly, and the Confederacy felt that the result would be, ultimately, a loss of freedom. Sadly, our Confederate forefathers were right; today, the level of freedom that we may exercise is a sad remnant of what was once possible. We have lost our first amendment rights (a student was recently expelled from a school for wearing a "straight-pride" shirt as a result of a group of homosexual students wearing "gay-pride" shirts, and numerous students at my school have been told to remove Confederate flag shirts). Our second amendment rights are slowly deteriorating, as leftist liberals push blindly forward with excessive anti-gun legislation, and the result is increasing government involvement and power in our daily lives. Perhaps, in the future, the Confederacy will rise again, and with it will come the re-emergence of our true personal freedoms. If everyone could open their minds, shun political correctness, and think logically about all things, there is no reason that this could not take place. |