![]() ![]() I know I didn't really talk about flags at all, but half the fight over the flags is a fight over the legacy of the Civil War. There's a sentiment in the South that an important aspect of the American Revolution died in the Civil War, that being the idea that power comes from the people rather than from Washington D.C. States' rights were destroyed, and the United States was no longer a voluntary association of states. In the Civil War, the South was subjugated like an enemy state. The ideas upon which the USA was founded were penned here in Virginia, and the beliefs in freedom and sovereignty still hold immense weight. Those who study the history of the South, which naturally consists largely of Southerners with family roots dating back to the Civil War or earlier, recognize that there is much more to Southern history than just slavery. I see the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia (the commonly recognized "Confederate" flag) very frequently, and I can emphatically tell you that it's not flown so frequently because all those Virginians are racists.įor a very long time, the Civil War was called "the war of Northern aggression" here in the South. ![]() Despite the founding fathers approving of secession and its validity, secession is now commonly viewed as pure treason because "the Civil War decided it," as if a war suddenly changes the Constitution.Īs my flair indicates, I live in Virginia, as has my family since the early 17th century. The Virginia delegation was opposed to ratifying the Constitution without assurance of the right to secede. In fact, secession was a specifically enumerated right by the founding fathers (James Madison, George Mason) at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, where Virginia adopted the US Constitution. The Bonnie Blue was used by the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1839. ![]() While slavery should certainly be condemned in the harshest terms, other ideals that led to the Confederacy, namely secession, are not deserving of condemnation. The flag was first raised in 1810 over the fort of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by a band of Florida troops, the Bonnie Blue served as the symbol of southern independence, and as the official flag of the Confederacy, until it was replaced by the Stars and Bars in 1861. It feels like people tend to think of Nazis and Confederates in a very similar light, but the issue with such thinking is that it leads to people denouncing everything the Confederates stood for. All too often, Confederates are portrayed as villainous traitors with no moral standing, but that's a very poor representation of the average Confederate. The main point I want to emphasize is that the people of the Confederacy were not wholly evil. There were a myriad of issues that caused the Civil War to arise it's not something that can be easily explained in a Reddit comment. That said, the CSA was not formed solely because of slavery. Yes, slavery ended after the war as a result of actions during the war, and yes, the CSA wanted to maintain slavery. The Civil War is severely misunderstood by most Americans (let alone the rest of the world). (Disclaimer: I am not a black American, but I'm replying all the same.) ![]()
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