Heritage or Hate?

Northern Virginia Battle Flag
The Confederate Battle Flag (Technically the Northern Virginia Battle Flag) holds many different meaning's for different people.

Many Virginians revere this as a symbol of the people that would not submit to an overbearing federal government and its Unconstitutional infringements upon the Rights of the States.

Others see it as a symbol of racism and the Jim Crow laws of the early 1900s.

And still more people idealize it as a representation of rebellion and "Redneck Identification"

So to discover who's right, you must look at the history of the War between the State's, Technically the term "Civil War" is incorrect as the definition states "A Civil War is between at least two political factions trying to take over the same government by violent means"
The South had no intention of taking over the current Government but rather to create a separate nation.
The Confederate Constitution was closely patterned after the US Constitution with the only major difference's being
A) The Confederate Constitution specifically abolished the International Slave Trade
B) Tariffs were permitted but were forbidden to benefit particular industries, This clause was a direct result of the South's belief that the Import and Export then imposed by the Federal Government heavily favored northern industries, over southern agriculture.

The Confederate Capitol was originally in Montgomery Alabama, The Confederate Government mistakenly believed that the close proximity would create harmony between the 2 Nations.

Interestingly enough, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas,, and North Carolina did not secede until Lincoln raised an Army against the South without Congressional Approval.


The most erroneous belief about the War today is that it only was over slavery.
Lincolns Gettysburg Address after the War was nearly over, was the first time the North brought slavery into the equation.
Both the North and South struggled with the slavery issue many years before the war,
The Violent Slave uprising's of that time cultivated the fear that if Slaves were released the resentment that they harbored would turn to violence.
In 1820 six years before he died, Thomas Jefferson described the slavery dilemma "We have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation is in the other."
In 1861 (After nearly all the Southern Legislators left Washington) the US House and Senate passed the Corwin Amendment stating "No Amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institution thereof, Including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said state."
In other words, Northern Legislators affirmed that they had no intention of abolishing slavery.
President-elect Lincoln supported this amendment.

The main reason for secession (aside from economic reasons) was "States Right's" which was a Right so strongly held that families named their sons after the phrase, Most notably was Brig. Gen. States Rights Gist born in 1831.
The Southerners favored abolishing Federal Tariffs in favor of Smaller, State-Based Tariffs.
In His March 4, 1861 Inaugural Address, President Lincoln stated "I Have no purpose, Directly or Indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery where it exists. I Believe that I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." In the same speech, Lincoln made it very clear what would provoke war: "The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; But beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, No using of force against or among the people anywhere."
The "Property" which Lincoln referred to were Federal Forts like Fort Sumpter which were the primary means of enforcing and collecting tariffs.


Now that we've established what the flag symbolizes and that the Government it stands for was not what people erroneously believe, We can move on to the other side.
Unfortunately many people who display the flag have no idea what it really stands for, Many believe its just showing the "Redneck Attitude" and these people are why the Flag is now associated with Racism, The Association of racism comes from the Hate Groups of the 1920s-?
These groups flew the Confederate Flag to soften their real agenda, Hard to believe but the adoption of the Flag was actually a PR Move, At that time the Flag was exclusively a symbol of belief in the Freedoms that the Confederacy fought for.
So what should we do? Allow the Flag to be flown without protest, While aggressively going after and jailing the Terrorist's known as White Supremacist's, In this way we can protect the Flags History and Re-Establish its true meaning... Independence, Freedom, Justice.


Ed. Note, This is the First in a series of posts that deal with controversial symbols and words in American Society, Next Topic?
"Anchor Babies"