ANSWERS: 16
  • are you actually defending a symbol of racism and violence?
    • ReiSan
      It is a matter of opinion what it symbolizes. It is not that to me.
    • Linda Joy
      I think there is a lot to be learned here! First of all symbols don't have any more power than you assign them! I don't like seeing an American flag abused, but I'm not going to let it upset me. I can choose how to respond. Just like I can when someone shoves a fist in the air and screams BLACK POWER in my face. Really? That's soooo third grade!!! And both are totally uncalled for! Ebony and Ivory, y'all! Can't we all just love one another?
    • Sandra Ursula
      It's not objectively a symbol of racism and violence. It's a symbol of a way of life on plantations in the southern USA.
    • Army Veteran
      No, it's not a symbol of the way of life on the plantations. The Confederate flag as a symbol of hate was NEVER the national flag of the Confederacy - it was a battle flag for one group. The design has always been popular among Southerners to represent their heritage - not slavery. A few radicals used it in the course of committing hate crimes and suddenly it "represents" racism and hate. Most people don't even know what the Civil War was about, so they can't validate their "racism" claims. People who think they can are only following what they've been taught by the Left.
  • Many racist extremists groups use the confederate flag in their emblems. Also, the flag represented states that wanted to secede from the US. For people who love the US, a flag representing people who want to split the US in half could be offensive. The flag is also associated with slavery, yes, and rightly so. Yes, the North owned slaves, but leaders in the North were passing laws regarding the establishment of slavery, if I remember correctly, and the South were more than happy to keep their slaves.
    • ReiSan
      What of the USA splitting from Great Britain? The Confederacy had the right to secede, but it was denied that right by war that killed millions.
    • Thinker
      I have never seen anyone use the Confederate States flag for anything concerning racism.
  • I think the north was ready to get rid of slavery first though
  • Some morons call anything they do not like racist. That cry of, "Racism", is more abused that the boy's cry of, "Wolf", in Aesop's fable.
  • The Confederate States flag is not associated with slavery as much as the Confederate battle flag. It is a lack of understanding and the fact the Union has written the histories of the war. Yes, slavery was one of the reasons the north appealed to the slavery issue. The main reason for the war was taxation without return. Lincoln forced the firing on Ft. Sumter to provoke the war. Never blame the war solely on slavery when the main reason was taxation. The government of the USA is well known to provoke many wars not only in the USA but also against many foreign countries. The last time the US A was attacked was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and that too was planned to occur mainly for monetary reasons. Learn the truth and not what the government says it is.
    • Army Veteran
      The slavery issue was an abolitionist movement (think of it as "Black Lives Matter" in the 19th century). The Civil War was never about slavery. Lincoln himself said this in a letter to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune. The reason for the Civil War was an attack on the South's states' rights.
    • Army Veteran
      The slavery issue was an abolitionist movement (think of it as "Black Lives Matter" in the 19th century). The Civil War was never about slavery. Lincoln himself said this in a letter to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune. The reason for the Civil War was an attack on the South's states' rights.
  • The civil war was not initially about slavery anyway. Wikipedia says "... the "Southern cross" used in the battle flag of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia gaining the most popular recognition as a modern symbol of the Confederacy, and by extension, the Southern United States in general. Such displays have been made for a variety of reasons, with Southern heritage, states' rights, and historical commemoration among the stated reasons for particular uses. Displaying the flag has long been controversial in the United States, due to the flag's longstanding associations with treason, racism, slavery, segregation, and white supremacy." Interestingly enough this flag was never officially used to represent the Confederate States. But since it was Lee's battle flag and he lead the Confederate Army there was an association. I think its considered racist by some because white supremist groups have used it like Hitler did the swastika. I have never considered it racist. I consider it part of southern heritage and culture. It represents many great fighting soldiers. But because others see it as racist I don't think I'll ever display one. I have several black friends who come over and I'd never want to offend them. But it only just now occurred to me that my picture of Jesus might be offensive to my friend who doesn't believe. Now that I think about it she did ask me to come to her house when I invited her to watch a video with me! Do you think that might be why? I'll ask her.
    • mushroom
      Explain why the Civil War was not initially about slavery? Yes, the victors write history, but the issue of slavery was fought for some time by words, deeds and the infamous assault on Sen. Sumner by Preston Brooks on the Senate floor. Read all the declarations of causes by which the States justified their secession from the Union. Mississippi's, for example, explicitly puts slavery at the forefront of its complaint: "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world." It's always the love of money, isn't it?
    • Linda Joy
      Only 4 states wrote down the reasons for their secession. Less than 25% of people in the south even had slaves. And if it was only about keeping their slaves they would have just let the Corwin Amendment pass ensuring they could always have slaves. Lincoln had already encouraged everyone to sign it. And he didn't care about the plight of slaves either! He said they could "root, hog or die" Lee was concerned about what would become of them if they were freed. But to answer your question, it was about states rights, Lincoln's election, economic issues, military protection, context, the National road, the proposed railroad construction that was supposed to be from LA to CA that was changed last minute to be built up north instead, territorial expansion, the south had lost the most people and blood in the war with Mexico and they thought they should get more of the land that was won, blacks being exempt from the draft, keeping the union whole at all costs, rural vs. metropolitan culture, money the north was stealing the south blind, then wanted them to give up their slaves which were their biggest investments! They costed about $200,000.00 each in today's money! The banking mercantile and railroad interests were draining them. Abolitionist terrorism (John Brown) inciting rebellion, the tariffs of 1828 and 1832, (As thinker said. Why didn't you ask him this question by the way? He said the same thing!) less federal government, taxation, and legislative action. And after the John Brown incident the south felt like they were being invaded and attacked! They were not being heard and felt like the government wasn't representing their interests (because it wasn't) Even the issue of slavery was not so much about the moral issue of slavery as it was the economics of slavery and political control of that system. Oh and BTW it was the democrats who owned all 4 million slaves when the civil war began. Not one slave was owned by a republican.
    • Army Veteran
      "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery." - Abraham Lincoln in a letter to New York Tribune Editor Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862
  • Not only did Northerners own slaves, but blacks owned slaves. Anthony Johnson, who was an indentured servant himself, captured from Angola and sold via the Arab slavers, completed his contract and bought himself slaves and indentured servants, including his own son's contract. Of his five slaves, 4 where white and one was black.,
    • Linda Joy
      Democrats owned every one of the 4 million slaves that were owned at the beginning of the civil war. Not one was owned by a republican!
    • Archie Bunker
      I'm not sure that's entirely accurate, Linda. There were slave owners in the North, and not all Northerners were anti-slavery, nor were they all Republicans. I don't believe ALL of the owners were democrats, though I'm sure a vast majority of them were.
  • Because it was the flag raised in war to kill northerners and prevent them abolishing slavery.
    • Army Veteran
      The flag was not raised to "kill Northerners and prevent them from abolishing slavery". The North provoked the South into a war - it was an attempt to abolish the 10th amendment and make the states subservient to the federal government.
  • the south lost deal with it (⌐■_■)
    • Thinker
      No, the south did not lose. They were out produced with the articles to fight the war with and attrition required the south to end the war.
    • Archie Bunker
      ...required the south to end the war. Meaning - they lost.
    • Archie Bunker
      .
    • Army Veteran
      The South actually WON the war. The moment the last state seceded from the Union, the Union was done. The safeguard that the founding fathers put in the Constitution to enable future generations to do away with it was accidentally triggered - but no one knows it.
  • not sure
  • Some vile people love to used the race card to cause trouble. The meaning of a flag can be subjective to a childish level. That's happening with the Confederate flag and statues of Confederate leaders.
  • Outside of a few "border states" northern states did not allow slavery. It's not clear who this question is addressed to but every white supremacist group in the country today, as far as I know, flies and displays the confederate fag as a focal point of their group.
  • The North didn't have slaves at that time.
    • Linda Joy
      Yes they did! The slave states that stayed in the Union, Maryland, Missouri, Delaware, and Kentucky. And every one of the 4 million slaves were owned by democrats. Not one by a republican.
  • Wrong. Slavery was abolished in the North Here is what Google says: Between 1840 and 1850, the last slaves in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island either died or were emancipated, and, as a result, the only northern state where slavery continued to exist after 1850 was New Jersey, where it was limited to slaves born before 1805.
  • The Confederate Flag was the symbol of a (attempted) nation whose primary cause for existing was to continue legalized slavery (in opposition to its abolition). Not so the Union flag. At the time of the beginning of the Civil War, none of "the north owned slaves" (because in all of the states that did not join the Confederacy slavery had been legally abolished).
  • If the Civil War was fought over slavery, then the Confederate flag might represent racism - but it wasn't and it doesn't. Lincoln clearly said in his letter to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery." [] The Civil War was fought over states' rights - and the Confederate flag represented those who stood up and defended their land against Northern tyranny. [] It has been said that "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." If the Leftists destroy America's history, future generations won't know about freedom in America - and won't question when they don't have it.

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