Questions about the Civil War?????

Question

I spent most of my years in Richmond Virginia. Richmond is a GRAND LOVER of confederate icons. We have statues of Robert E. Lee that is displayed promantely on the Blvd. (I won't even get into all of that)

HERE IS MY QUESTION: Why do SO MANY AMERICANS idolize the confederacy? I know that many peoples forefathers fought in that war, but mine did as well and I do not idolize them. One very important reason is b/c 75% of my family tree were the African slaves who were crippled & made to live lower than dogs under the cruel system of slavery. (The culture of slavery was the worst form of terrorism that exists)

FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS
1. Why wasn't Jeff Davis and the confed. soldiers tried for treason and put to death at the end of the war?\
2. Why wasn't the reconstruction plan followed thru? The Confed. states were restored to their with loyal gov. but the south found a new way slave Africans thru Jim Crow Laws.
3. What is it about the Confederacy that causes so much idolization?

Answer 1

Davis was imprisoned after the war, and held for two years, then released.

Confederate soldiers were paroled, this was Lincoln's design as expressed in his second inaugural:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

I believe that current idolization with the Confederacy is an attempt to hold onto a tradition...and a sectional rivalry.

Lincoln's speech at Cooper Union, and his first inaugural, show "YOU asked" to be full of baloney.

From the Cooper Union speech, "If slavery is right, all words, acts, laws, and constitutions against it, are themselves wrong, and should be silenced, and swept away. If it is right, we cannot justly object to its nationality - its universality; if it is wrong, they cannot justly insist upon its extension - its enlargement. All they ask, we could readily grant, if we thought slavery right; all we ask, they could as readily grant, if they thought it wrong. Their thinking it right, and our thinking it wrong, is the precise fact upon which depends the whole controversy. Thinking it right, as they do, they are not to blame for desiring its full recognition, as being right; but, thinking it wrong, as we do, can we yield to them? Can we cast our votes with their view, and against our own? In view of our moral, social, and political responsibilities, can we do this? Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to let it alone where it is, because that much is due to the necessity arising from its actual presence in the nation; but can we, while our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into the National Territories, and to overrun us here in these Free States? If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored - contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man - such as a policy of "don't care" on a question about which all true men do care - such as Union appeals beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunionists, reversing the divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous to repentance - such as invocations to Washington, imploring men to unsay what Washington said, and undo what Washington did. Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let ue, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

From the first inaugural, "One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute."

Having said all that...Lee was one of the greatest military minds in the history of earth.

Perhaps "YOU asked" can address the actual speeches that Lincoln gave at Cooper Union and in his first inaugural, and then tell me how they do not point to slavery being the principle issue. After all, states were not insisting on their right to serve grits.

Perhaps "YOU asked" can also tell us how slaves could have been freed, other than through the Emancipation Proclamation. Ultimately, it had to come to Constitutional Amendment, since the Constitution as written did not allow slaves being freed, the Legislature could not free slaves (in a divided Senate), even a Constitutional amendment was not possible, since there were enough slave holding states to prohibit the necessary 3/4th vote. This is why the South wanted slavery extended into the territories, so that there would be no possibility of amendment to the Constitution.

So, "YOU asked", you and your Confederate sympathizing web sites that call Lincoln a "Communist Monster" are full of baloney.

Answer 2

Its really about why the people were fighting. In the North the average soldiers was fighting against slavery except maybe the conscripts but in the South the average soldier was fighting for "states rights" for lack of a better word. So it is idolized because many people saw it as just another struggle for liberty.

Back then we you asked some one where they were from they did not say the US , they would say their state. States were more important to people.

1) well no one in the south was allowed to vote.
2) I think many of the "reconstruction" plans were found to be un-constitutional by the USSC
3) To many it was a fight for states rights liberty not slavery

And the average "joe" southern back then DID NOT own any slaves , only the rich ones did. In fact I would say slavery was bad for the working man in the south.

Answer 3

i think people idolize lee, and he may in fact be worthy of that adulation.

i too admire him, but i think for different reasons than most southerners (who i think would detest me).

lee was a rare soldier - his presence in the confederate army may very well have added three years to the american civil war.

while lee was a southerner, he didn't fight the union for any other reason other than his state of virginia seceded and in those days people had strong identification with their state.

most southerners don't realize that lee wanted to free the slaves (so that they could fight the union). lee not only wanted to free slaves who would fight for the south, he wanted them treated like southerners.

lee advanced this idea to elected leaders much earlier in the war than you might think.

even though lee was a slave owner, he didn't care about the institution of slavery - he cared about his state and the south.

he was, in fact more liberal than most around him in this way.

it was lee who put a stop to the idea that southern armies still intact should retreat to the hills and fight a permanent style guerilla war on the north - he would have no part of it.

when nathan bedford forrest founded the kkk, lee was not involved or interested.

as far as the confederacy being idolized, i think that is wrapped up in their legend of winning so many battles against such long odds for so long.

they won until grant and his subordinate were put in charge, and even after that, they forced a draw for a very long time.

what they idolize is the 'lost cause' that was what the confederacy was from the very beginning.

but lee himself may very well be one of the greatest generals of all time - up there with julius ceasar, hannibal and (sadly for him) grant.

any of us who have visited arlington national cemetery (i HIGHLY recommend visiting this place) have visited lee's plantation in virginia.

at one point during the war, lee's estate was confiscated and turned into arlington national cemetery - thereby turning his land into some of the most hallowed ground in the usa...

Answer 4

I would disagree with "idolize".I have been to many civil war sites and in my view,both the Union and Confederate views were equally represented.Since you spent time in Richmond,you should realize that the Civil War was not begun because of slavery,it was an issue of economics and the south's perception of an unequal fiscal policy that favored the north.Slavery issue was addressed by Lincoln 2 years after war began.DO NOT MISCONSTRUE WHAT I AM SAYING,PLEASE.I am in no way saying that slavery was an unimportant issue.Our utilization of slave labor is as shameful as it can get(as well as our treatment of native Americans and our utilization of under paid immigrants)
Lincolns plan for reconstruction was for the nation to forgive,heal,and move forward.Unfortunately,his assassination prevented this great leader from fulfilling his dream.

Answer 5

Those that love the Confederacy, are against America. The confederates attempted a coup against the US government and failed. Their traitorous actions should be shunned, not celebrated.

The Confederate states initiated a revolutionary war against the nation for selfish and inhumane reasons. They wanted states to have the right to keep slavery legal on a state by state basis. Now they claim that it was a war for state's rights.

Confederates are synonymous with Benedict Arnold.

Answer 6

I believe that you will find that a large % of Americans, and those of us who were born and raised in the south believe that slavery is and was wrong, and many states have apologized to black americans who are direct decendants of slaves. It is now one of those "lesson learned" things. It was wrong then and is still wrong today. One must go back to before the slaves came here. We all must remember that in Africa there were many tribes, and those tribes would fight and have their own civil wars with other tribes for dominance, those that remained alive afterward became slaves of that tribe. They too were treated sub-human. Unfortunantly, for us some french man traveling through saw this and saw how they used their own kind, and he was in it for the great wonderful dollar, so he decided that he would trade things or buy the slaves from this tribe, and bring them over to America...so the French brought the slaves who mind you were already slaves of their own kind to our shores, and the french man sold the men and women. Many slaves had it bad in both africa, and here. Even today in africa, many of the girls or women become slaves of their own kind and still treated sub-human....As before, it was wrong then and is still wrong now. Also the truth be know, the civil war was not over slaves....it was about being seperate from the North, because the south was doing so well, and they wanted their own government, not Washington. If is was over slavery then why was it that the last slave that was released from the North.

Answer 7

What idolization are you talking about...most of what you mentioned is simply history. The Civil War was a fight over secession not slavery...slavery only entered into the picture after the war began. BTW..slavery was a product of the North not the South but was used in both...look up the slave trade and the shipping of slaves...

Update:
In response to the one who said I was full of bologna..(Heart and Troll)
The responsibility for this home, or American, participation in the slave importing business rests primarily and principally upon New England and likewise, very largely, upon New York. It was a boast and a taunt of pre-war days with pro-slavery orators that, "The North imported slaves, the South only bought them" -- and historians assert that "there is some truth in the assertion."
Indeed, it has been widely claimed that "No Southern man or Southern ship ever brought a slave to the United States," and while this statement is disputed and is perhaps not strictly true according to the letter, it is undoubtedly true in spirit, for the cases where a Southern man or Southern ship could be charged with importing slaves are few indeed, while New England, as well as New York, were openly and boldly engaged in the traffic, employing hundreds of ships in the nefarious business.
http://southernslavery.com/articles/south_not_responsible.htm

When Abraham Lincoln was elected as president in 1860. Southerners thought the government was becoming too strong. They did not think the government had the right to tell them how they should live. Southerners felt if they stayed in the United States, the North would control them.
The northern states were called the Union. President Lincoln said he would fight to keep the southern states as part of the United States. There was Union forts on Confederate land. The Confederates wanted Union soldiers to leave these forts. In Charleston, South Carolina there was a Union fort called Fort Sumter. The Union soldiers refused to leave this fort, so the Confederates fired cannons at the fort on April 12, l861. This was the beginning of the Civil War.
http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/civilwar/south.htm
When the eleven seceded states formed the Confederate States of America, the constitution they formed almost completely mirrored that of the original United States constitution, but the Confederate states constitution gave more rights to states so they could govern themselves freely without political pressure or the raising of tariffs from a central government. The Confederate states constitution did protect against the institution of slavery, but it did ban international slave trading, which was practiced in the North regularly before and leading up to the Civil War.
When the South first seceded from the Union, the overall opinion in the North was to let the South leave and exercise its right of self-determination. After a few months, the mood in the North seemed to change after predictions of economic loss begin to arise (Kennedy 50). The 10% tariff the Confederate states established would attract more business in the world market because it was significantly lower than the Union’s tariffs (Kennedy 50). When President Lincoln was asked why the North should not let the South secede, he replied “Let the South go?
Let the South go! Where then shall we get our revenues!” (Semmes 59)
One of the biggest myths in history and in American Civil War time is that President Abraham Lincoln was a good and righteous man. Every American history class room you enter is most likely to have a picture of President Lincoln hanging on the wall. If President Lincoln was truly the “Great Emancipator” that loved and cared about all slaves, why did he not free the slaves in states under his own control? The famous Emancipation Proclamation was a direct executive order from President Lincoln himself, and at the time was unconstitutional. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves “within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States” (Edwards 9). The Emancipation Proclamation was nothing more then a political tool to gain favor and sympathy from other nations and make the goal of the North fall on moral grounds, because preserving the Union did not. What you will not find in classroom history books are the personal beliefs and opinions of
our 16th President. The beliefs and opinions of President Lincoln will shock anyone that believes he was a great man. President Lincoln’s white supremacist beliefs are something that history books seem to want to cover up in order to make President Lincoln and the North look like “the good guys”. In a 1858 presidential debate, President Lincoln made the following statement:

I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races. . . I, as much as any other men, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. (Johannsen 162-63)

President Lincoln was not only a white supremacist but he supported apartheid by wanting to send the slaves back to Africa, President Lincoln made the following statement in a debate with Stephen A. Douglas:

Such separation if effected at all, must be effected by colonization: . . . what colonization most need is a hearty will . . . Let us be brought to believe that it is morally right, and at the same time favorable to, or at least not against, our interest to transfer the African to his native clime, and we shall find a way to do it, however great the task may be. (Kennedy 27)
http://gametz.com/forum/General/topic/268009.html

Heart and Troll...are you seriously basing your opinion on something he said at the beginning of his term other than what he did throughout it? Read the Emancipation Proclomation and tell me he freed the slaves in the North as well as those in the "Rebelling States"...Actions speak louder than words...and he spoke the words that backed those actions as well...