Was the Confederacy terrorist?

Question

If the Southern Confederacy was around today would it be considered terrorist?

Answer 1

No but they were the biggest traitors to this country...They rose up against the United States of America for the belief in their petty prejudices...there's no honor in the confederacy or that rag they call a flag...

Answer 2

The Confederacy would not be terrorist but people who live there or support it might be terrorists. Just as the US government was not terrorist but women of South Carolina would have sworn that General Sherman was certainly a terrorist.

Answer 3

The confederate army was generally a conventional army, but there were affiliated groups that could be considered terrorist. One was the "bushwackers" who Jesse James rode with. Another was the KKK.

I think the distinction lies in whether they deliberately target civilians, women and children for no other reason than to terrorize. Insurgents and the use of IEDs are not necessarily terrorist. Those who kidnap, torture and decapitate civilians are.

Answer 4

It seems you don't know much about history. The people who fought on the side of the south in the civil war were not terrorists. They were soldiers fighting for their way of life, pride, sense of loyalty to their states, etc., there weren't necessarily fighting to preserve slavery. Most of the soldiers for the South were not slave owners. I know that a lot of liberals can't comprehend such a moral code because liberals have no morals, values or sense of purpose or direction.

Answer 5

No, Confederates were not terrorists. The Confederate States of America were organized under a constitutional, Republican form of government and waged war with organized armies. Also, they fought for their existence as an independent entity, in resistance to Lincoln's efforts to coerce them into remaining a part of the American Union. This was their one and only reason for fighting, and they did so only after Lincoln refused their attempts at negotiation and made it clear that he considered the Union "unbroken". Had Lincoln not forcefully opposed secession, there would have been no war.

Now, if you want to refer to terrorist-style tactics, you can look to the Union armies, which waged war against Southern civilians and property, particularly in Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia. Today, men like Sherman, Grant, Sheridan and Lincoln himself (because he was complicit in their actions) could be tried for war crimes.

Nor were the Confederates traitors. There is absolutely nothing in the U.S. Constitution that prohibits states from withdrawing from the Union, nor is there anything in it that empowers the federal government to hold them in the Union. According to the 9th and 10th amendments, that means that the right of secession lies with the states and their people.

And think about this for a moment...how "American" is it to attack and kill people who only want to peacefully separate and form their own government, when you consider that the United States of America came into being as an act of secession from Great Britain, and for the same reason?

Answer 6

The Confederates were not terrorists. They were exercising their right to secede from a government which they no longer wished to be part of (just like the American Revolutionaries) did. The terrorists were Lincoln and King George because they fought to prevent people from exercising their right of secession (Lincoln successfully, King George unsuccessfully). Today, the Iraqis and Iranians are not terrorists, but rather the Fuhrer in DC is a terrorist.

Answer 7

No, but they were TRAITORS.

They suceeded only because they thought Lincoln was going to take away their slaves.

Seach for declaration of secession. These are Civil War era documents where the states in their own words declare why they seceeded: support for SLAVERY.

Answer 8

No, they had formed a government and had an army. They fought uniformed and acording to internationl law at the time. Terrorist blend in with civilians and sneak attack with no warning and give no indication who they are.

Answer 9

Some of the tactics used by *both* sides would qualify as "terroristic".

Answer 10

No, their soldiers fought for the Confederate States of America, not some religious zealot holyman.