Don't Allow Strangers to Lecture You About Your Ancestors
Pushing Back Against the Indoctrination
Pushing Back Against the Indoctrination
(Jeff Paulk, The Southern Vindicator) - It seems that we are regularly bombarded by attacks upon Southern heritage, history, Confederate flags and monuments, and often hear such ignorant comments as, “Confederates were traitors,” “Democrats are the party of slavery, racism, and the KKK,” and the favorite one, “the Civil War was fought to free the slaves.” Oh, let’s not leave out “segregation and Jim Crow Laws.”
Well, while trying to keep this article within a respectable length, these issues will be addressed, with links to other articles.
Let’s start with, “the Civil War was fought to free the slaves.” First of all, nobody was trying to take over the U.S. government, so we have never had a “Civil War.” Some more appropriate names for it are, “The War to Prevent Secession,” “The War Between the States,” “The War to Prevent Southern Independence,” and my personal choice, “The War of Northern Aggression,” because that is what it was. Had Lincoln not invaded, there would have been no war.
So, the South fought to “protect and perpetuate slavery,” while the North “fought to free the slaves.” At least this is what has been indoctrinated into most Americans for 150+ years. The problem with this is that it doesn’t make sense for the North to be “fighting to liberate slaves” while there were slave states in the Union, with over 429,000 slaves (1860 Census). Also, West Virginia was admitted into the Union as a slave state during the war. Lincoln also…