Changing My Focus For Awhile: We're Under Attack

When I started this Civil War Blog, which grew out of my Down Da Road I Go and Cooter's History Thing blogs,  it was with the idea to write about things that interest me about the Civil War.

Back then, there were attacks on my Confederate heritage and especially the Confederate Battle Flag which was ongoing and intense, but nothing like it has gotten in the last several weeks after that sorry excuse killed those people in the church.  I would have to think the last time the Confederacy was under this much attack was back in 1861-1865.

It seems that many are crawling out of the woodwork to cast their disparages against any and all things Confederate.  Doing that old PC thing.

And Especially The Flag.

I hate the fact that the white racist/bigots have adopted the flag as their own.  These Jerry Springer Southerners certainly don't represent me.  I would never wave the flag in front of blacks to taunt them.  To me, the flag is a symbol of pride.  Unfortunately, that is a pride that was tainted with slavery, but back then, that was just the way it was.  Slavery had always existed and the slave owners of the South felt that the way of life was tied to the institution (even though some 75% of Southerners didn't own slaves).

And, besides being an ineffective labor system, it also enabled the rich plantation owners to exert way too much control over the lower class whites and state governments.  You know, the old government by and for the rich thing.

A lot of it had to do with keeping the slave states and free state numbers in the U.S. Senate equal.  The North already controlled the House of Representatives and was big on passing tariffs and other laws that were good for their section and not so for the South.

As this trend continued, the admittance of slave states in the same numbers as free became extremely important.  Even though any states west of Texas would not be likely a good place for slavery because of a lack of agriculture.

Plus, there was the continued need for slave labor on the plantations.  The North was receiving huge numbers of immigrants every month to provide needed labor for their factories.  The South wasn't getting the people.

Even though Abraham Lincoln did not propose to do away with slavery where it already existed, he would not ever allow any new slave states to enter the Union.  The South saw no other alternative but to secede from the Union.

And then, there was the John Brown thing.  Abolitionists were loud and numerous in their praise of him as a hero.  So much in fact that most Southerners came to believe that most Northerners felt the same way.  How could they belong to a country that praised a man who wanted the earth to run red with Southern blood?

Very Few Other Choices.