06-20-2015, 08:59 PM
The Civil War was about preventing the Confederate South from seceding; which the southern states wanted to do primarily because of the Union North's growing movement away from slavery.
Lincoln reinvigorated the weary Union fighters a couple of years into it by refocusing the main goal from maintaining unity to the emancipation of slaves.
He was smart and wily (and right, IMO). It took him those first couple of years to realize that he could focus the mission on the Declaration of Independence's proclamation that "all men are created equal", despite the Constitution's recognition of slave ownership as a white citizen's right. By then he understood that he would likely have support in facilitating an amendment to the Constitution to ensure that emancipation would hold after a Union victory (rather than declaring emancipation a temporary wartime act).
So, to me, the Civil War was both about states' rights and abolishing slavery. In less than two decades after the Union's victory, the"United States" had become a singular term rather than a plural one; the sovereign states had indeed become united and slavery had been abolished.
That's my understanding anyway. And, because I know why the Confederate states resisted and fought to secede from the Union and I don't think slavery should be celebrated or embraced, I'd not display a Confederate flag even if I lived in the Old South.
Still, I don't think the Confederate flag should be banned or anything. People have a right to freedom of expression through symbolic displays. On a personal level, I pay attention to what people put out there and appreciate the heads-up. If you've got a Confederate flag, a Swastika, a bound spread-eagle woman or such on proud display on your person or property, I'm gonna write you off as backwards and move along without further engagement.
Lincoln reinvigorated the weary Union fighters a couple of years into it by refocusing the main goal from maintaining unity to the emancipation of slaves.
He was smart and wily (and right, IMO). It took him those first couple of years to realize that he could focus the mission on the Declaration of Independence's proclamation that "all men are created equal", despite the Constitution's recognition of slave ownership as a white citizen's right. By then he understood that he would likely have support in facilitating an amendment to the Constitution to ensure that emancipation would hold after a Union victory (rather than declaring emancipation a temporary wartime act).
So, to me, the Civil War was both about states' rights and abolishing slavery. In less than two decades after the Union's victory, the"United States" had become a singular term rather than a plural one; the sovereign states had indeed become united and slavery had been abolished.
That's my understanding anyway. And, because I know why the Confederate states resisted and fought to secede from the Union and I don't think slavery should be celebrated or embraced, I'd not display a Confederate flag even if I lived in the Old South.
Still, I don't think the Confederate flag should be banned or anything. People have a right to freedom of expression through symbolic displays. On a personal level, I pay attention to what people put out there and appreciate the heads-up. If you've got a Confederate flag, a Swastika, a bound spread-eagle woman or such on proud display on your person or property, I'm gonna write you off as backwards and move along without further engagement.