What do You Think About Confederate War Monuments?
Confederate monuments and the Confederate flag have a strange relationship with Maryland culture. Because the mason Dixon line runs through my home town many people I know have ancestors who owned slaves and fought in the civil war on both sides. It has become a symbol of southern pride, and pride in a country lifestyle. Often the flag and civil war monuments can be found in small or rural southern towns where people live a simple life. These people are usually but not always republicans who use words like “redneck”, “hick” or “Country boy” to describe themselves. often these people take pride in their community and lifestyle, and while this is not necessarily a problem, they, like many other Americans do not fully understand the reasons the civil war was fought. This creates an ignorant mentality and can create cultural divides when making arguments for what should happen to confederate war monuments and confederate flags.
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The civil war was fought over states’ rights. In addition to the “right” to own other people, this included territorial expansion, federal law and its ability to override state law. The Southern states wanted to assert their authority over the federal government and their laws. That they could ignore and abolish federal laws that they didn’t want to follow. This included laws about slaves and slave rights. The South created a strong divide and attempted to succeed. The leaders in Washington wanted power over the southern states, and wanted to end the human rights violation that is slavery, this led to the beginning of the Civil
The American Civil War was a major war in the United States between the Union and eleven Southern states which declared that they had a right to secession and formed the Confederate States of America. They were led by Jefferson Davis who was elected as their president. The Union, led by President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party, opposed the expansion of slavery into territories owned by the United States and rejected any right of secession. The United States Civil War began as an effort to save the Union but it ended in a fight to abolish slavery. Tens of thousands of soldiers on each side, in battle after battle, had the courage to march in regular order against the withering fire of the defenders, while those around them fell with hideous and usually fatal wounds for many different reasons. Southerners fought for their rights and their way of life. Blacks for on another and for the end of slavery. Northerners fought to keep the Union together and latter on the end of slavery. Blacks fought for Religion, to demonstrate to all that blacks are just as capable as whites in battle and to show Gods righteousness.
...more overpowering and overwhelming than any general feeling of Southern pride. America has obtained a reputation to be an accepting and open minded country, welcoming all of any race, couture and religion. The Preamble states clearly that America will establish justice and insure domestic tranquility for all. Neither of these entities are accomplished in America as long as the Confederate flag remains raised. Our nation is furthermore divided by racism through a flag that is possibly being used as a degradation tool. This battle with racism has become far too large for American citizens and anything that is viewed as racist in such a manner as the Confederate flag is, should be censored from society, in only a helpful practice. A state flag should be capable of uniting its citizens, instead of dividing them. The Confederate flag should be lowered immediately.
In the spring 1861, years of building tensions between the northern states and southern states resulted in the American Civil War. In 1680 an anti-slavery Republican, Abraham Lincoln was elected president causing seven southern states to secede from the union. These seven states included--Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas--. These seven states formed the Confederate States of America. The American Civil War lasted from April 12, 1861 to May 9, 1865 and claimed more than roughly 620,000 lives. So what caused the Civil War? The three main causes of the Civil War were differences between the north and the south in economies, disagreements in abolishing slavery, and whether the State or Federal
There are various explanations as to who and what really caused the Civil War. It is even fair to say that sometimes morals stand in the way when deciding who really started the war. Therefore, the facts must be analyzed clearly and in depth. It is true that the north played a major role in the Civil War, however, the south would not release their strict traditional beliefs of slavery. As time progressed, slavery debates pressured the South more and more to stand by their strict beliefs. Fugitive acts, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Secession all showed how the south used brutal methods to preserve slavery. Therefore, since the popular sovereignty doctrine, the pro-slavery souths’ strict use of slavery and decisions to secede from the nation, angered the north, leading to a civil war.
The South was fighting against a government that they thought was treating them unfairly. They believed the Federal Government was overtaxing them, with tariffs and property taxes making their life styles even more expensive than they already had been. The North was fighting the Civil War for two reasons, first to keep the Nation unified, and second to abolish slavery. Abraham Lincoln, the commander and chief of the Union or Northern forces along with many other Northerners believed that slavery was not only completely wrong, but it was a great humiliation to America. Once can see that with these differences a conflict would surely occur, but not many had predicted that a full-blown war would breakout. One did and after three bloody and costly years for both sides we come to the date of July 1, 1863.
Imagine standing in front of the defaced statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee only to hear two sides of people curse, hurt each other. This situation is too familiar for people who visit Charlottesville, VA, the formerly peaceful town. The controversy between Confederate memorials never ends. Many people argue that Confederate monuments should be taken down because they become the flashpoints of unrest and violence. As far as I am concerned, confederate memorials should remain as these memorials are the legacy of history; history is value-neutral and innocent.
During winter months, basic huts were constructed from wood when it was available. During the civil war, most of the soldiers fought only 75 percent of the time. When they were not fighting, their day usually started at 5:00 in the morning during the summer and spring, and 6:00 in the morning during the fall and winter. Soldiers would be awakened by fifes and drums, then the first sergeant would take a roll call, and all the men sat down to eat breakfast. During the day, soldiers would be engaged in sometimes as many as five 2-hour long drill sessions on weaponry or maneuvers.
“The Confederate Flag: Controversy and Culture.” David Sarratt American Studies University of Virginia. Web. 22 Feb. 2014
The Confederate flag was used symbolically during the Civil War. For Southerner’s, the flag represented a source of southern pride as well as a way of remembering the fallen Confederates. As the Civil War proceeded, the meaning of the flag began to change. Currently, the flag is being used as a symbol of racism. Due to this change in meaning, controversy over the flag has been exponentially growing.
The Civil War officially began on April 12th, 1861, when Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard shot at the Union Troops currently occupying Fort Sumter. While this specific event may have marked the beginning of actual warfare, it was not the only event to spark the beginning of the Civil War in general. One of the most well-known causes of the Civil War is the conflict over slavery. The Southern states were very dependent on agriculture and the slave labor that was required to maintain healthy crops. On the other hand, the Northern states were more focused on factories and industrial work, and did not want slavery to expand as the country grew. As if this disagreement didn't cause enough tension, Southern states were seceding from the Union because they felt that the government (which at the time was run mostly by people from the North) was gaining too much power, and soon would have complete control over the Southern states. Starting with South Carolina, a total of eleven states seceded from the Union during this time period. The third cause of the Civil War was the taxes that were placed on many parts of the South. Taxes such as those placed on European goods imported to the South proved to be quite a burden for the people that lived down there, and this only further encouraged them to separate themselves from the Unio...
The American Civil War fought from 1861 to 1865 is described as “the bloodiest conflict in the history of North America” (Feature Causes Of The Civil War). The Civil war or war between the states was fought for many economic, political and moral reasons tracing back to the very start of America. The civil war fought between the Northern and Southern states is truly a significant event in the history of the United States because it involved American citizens fighting against each other. The American civil war was initiated through the controversy over slave labor, unfair actions toward Southern states and the vast division between the Northern and Southern states.
A lot of people say that the southern part of the united states is what started the war. Their stubborn ways force the north to take action which lead to the civil war. In all reality there was more that came into play when the civil war was in the making. States rights was one of the problem that lead to the civil war, the constitution did not define who had what powers and what authority over one what. Also slavery played a part because the slaves were raising up and fighting for their rights in which the south did not like and and the north tried to help only making the problem worse. The differences between the free states and the slave states was the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet
Many causes led to the Civil War. This all happened around the mid 1800s. It was a conflict between the Northern and Southern states. Both sides had their own view on slavery, and their separate views caused contentions between the two. Both had different views on whether to expand or stop slavery growth to the West, or have slavery at all.
Recently a school in Virginia suspended more than twenty students for wearing clothing that had a Confederate flag on it. The school also banned students from having the Confederate flag on their vehicles. The reason theses students were displaying the flag that much was because a fellow classmate had passed away a week or two before. The family made t-shirts and decals in memory of their son. The design was a Confederate flag that had the date that the young man died and under the flag the shirt stated “Heritage not hate.”. A simple design caused this much trouble. The students that were suspended were called racist and prejudice. How could a shirt and decal that was made to remember a loved one be considered racist? The Confederate flag
Personally, I believe the Civil War was fought due to land lust and greed and the differing ideology the Northern and Southern states had in regards to this. Additionally, each time we acquired new land mass throughout early American history violence ensued at the cost of some entity (Schultz, 2009). Consider the Indians, England, and Mexico as recipients of hostile land acquisition; consequently, during the Civil War area, America was fighting itself over land due to man’s greed. The Civil War was caused by political differences, social differences, and economic differences between Northern and Southern states. Additionally, these dividing issues were not entirely new notions just prior to the war, but rather issues that were generally ignored