http://www.aleut4u.com/feedback.htmDear Editor:
I’m sick of these southern apologists. They have the same tired refrains -- “It’s a Saint Andrews cross," “It’s about heritage not hate," they were heroes or genteel men, and my favorite, “states rights." What a farce -- the “right" they refer to is the “right" to enslave another human being and hold him as property.The fact is that the south “seceded," an act of treason, and drew first blood, not only over slavery, but over the legitimate election of a president they didn’t like and fear of losing their traditional immoral sway over the legislature.
To say a rebel flag does not represent slavery is to say a burning cross doesn’t represent the Klan, a swastika doesn’t represent Hitler; it is asinine. These “genteel" men would not only enslave fellow human beings as property but murder their fellow citizens to defend that “right." So why on earth would a civilized society want monuments to traitors, slavers and murderers?Only a sociopath would flaunt such a shameful and sordid past as if it were worthy of repeating; there were no gallant southern acts -- only weak men wrongly defending an evil institution and way of life, only traitors trying to kill their countrymen. The sooner we start calling this evil past, whether cloaked as “heritage" or “genteel" for what it is the better.
The war is over -- the south lost, badly -- they were wrong. Accept it.Pete Schmitz
NorthportMarch 18, 2005
Pete Schmitz should have obtained something beyond a 4th. grade knowledge of history before he started foaming at the mouth about Southern apologists. He has swallowed hook, line, and sinker a revisionist, politically correct view of the War of Northern Aggression that neatly lays the blame of slavery solely on the Southern states, and justifies the outrages committed by the Federal government because they "freed" the slaves.
Mr. Schmitz, please consider the following facts:Regarding the Confederate flags, it is a fact that the United States sanctioned slavery, and the Stars and Stripes flew over slavery for
76 years while the “reviled” Stars and Bars did so for
only four years.It is a fact that slavery existed in every one of the original thirteen colonies, north and south, and continued in two northern states even after the war ended. It is a fact that the vast majority of slaves were brought to this country by ships registered in Europe and New England, most notably
Rhode Island, and much of New England’s wealth originated with the slave trade. It is a fact that these interests continued to smuggle slaves into the US and to import slaves to other countries after their importation into the US was outlawed.
Regarding the freedom of slaves by the war, it is a fact that Abraham Lincoln said,
“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that”. It is a fact that he took the third option, “freeing” the slaves in the seceded states over which he had no jurisdiction, while leaving those in the United States, where he had jurisdiction, enslaved. This is an old trick employed by English-appointed colonial governors during the American Revolution.
Regarding the “treasonous” nature of secession, it is a fact that at least two states, Virginia and New York, entered the Union under provisions that they could leave same at whatever time they saw fit, and that
Texas,
a foreign country, joined the union by a treaty that included the same sort of provisions. It is a fact the right of secession was widely accepted prior to the war, and several New England states repeatedly threatened to do so in the early years of the 19th. Century. It is a fact that
Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase advised
President Andrew Johnson that prosecution of Confederate leaders for treason following the war would result in confirmation of the right of secession and thus the illegality of Northern aggression in courts of law.It is a fact that the Southern States seceded because of
onerous federal cotton tariffs that had been a matter of strong contention for many years. It is a fact that these tariffs (ultimately derived from slave labor) were
the chief source of income to the federal government. The primary motivation for the Federal government’s attack on the seceded states was to regain the cotton tariff revenue and avoid its own bankruptcy, and to reestablish the supply of cheap cotton to New England exporters and manufacturers, without which those states would suffer economic collapse.
Preservation of the Union and emancipation of the slaves were merely red herrings for this desperate, economically driven attack on the seceded states. As the victor writes the history, these facts have been swept under the rug to conceal and justify the grossly unconstitutional acts of the Federal government.Mr. Schmitz, there is no excuse for ignorance, we have libraries, bookstores, and the internet even here in the Alabama.