LETTERS

Confererate flag: In defiance of tyranny

Posted 7/30/15

To the Editor:

I wanted to comment on the wonderful article by Kelcy Dolan in the July 23 Beacon concerning the Confederate flag and which included an interview with Henry Brown, a Warwick …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in
LETTERS

Confererate flag: In defiance of tyranny

Posted

To the Editor:

I wanted to comment on the wonderful article by Kelcy Dolan in the July 23 Beacon concerning the Confederate flag and which included an interview with Henry Brown, a Warwick historian. It was a very fair and balanced piece.

I agree with Mr. Brown that the symbol of the Confederacy, so near and dear to our southern citizens, has been high-jacked by radical groups but, at the same time, so has the history of the War of Northern Aggression as southerners refer to the Civil War. It is said that history is written by the victors, and no truer statement could be made concerning Lincoln and his war.

During the early stages of this unpopular war, Lincoln had 350 northern newspapers shut down for anti-war rhetoric, 13,000 people were imprisoned for honest political dissent, the entire Maryland legislature was arrested, and the Constitution along with habeas corpus was suspended.

According to popular mythology, Lincoln freed the slaves. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 did nothing to free any plantation slaves. The idea of the Proclamation freeing the slaves in the 11 Confederate states is incredulous. There were also no slaves freed in southern states that fought with the Union. Maryland, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia and Delaware were allowed to keep their slaves until the end of the war. As William Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State, famously said concerning the Proclamation, “A puff of wind…emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free.” Despite his many protestations against slavery, Lincoln’s ambivalence was clear. In his writings and speeches he neither approved nor disapproved of slavery as long as the Union could be preserved – total duplicity.

 Although slavery eventually became a cas de guerre, embodied in the Gettysburg Address of 1863, the primary reason for the war was the crippling tariffs levied on goods shipped into southern ports. More than 75 percent of levies collected on federal tariffs were collected from southern ports. Vexing the south even further was the fact that the monies collected were used to increase and strengthen northern industrialization. Thus the wish to secede and be left alone in its agrarian society was what the south most desired, and Lincoln would have none of it. Power was to be kept in Washington at any cost. And the cost? 620,000 casualties on both sides.

Both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee thought that slavery would die out naturally and welcomed it. Even before the Civil War, ships from Africa were no longer allowed to dock at southern ports.

The Confederate battle flag, as it is called, is a symbol of opposition to the tyranny of Washington. Substitute King George III for Lincoln and you have a more complete picture of how the south viewed this conflict. The Confederacy, led by South Carolina, had every constitutional right to leave this voluntary union.

The so-called American Civil War was fought for the right to liberty and independence and the right to self-determination. These three things must surely resonate with most Americans today.

Despite the misinformation, disinformation, and political naïveté, the Confederate battle flag represents a moment in American history that proclaimed the spirit of liberty and freedom from tyrannical powers. The hate and resentment directed toward the public display of the flag is misguided. Although the south lost the fight and its history of slavery is profoundly disturbing, it can stand proud in its defiance of tyranny in the best American tradition.

Jim Morgan

Warwick

Comments

3 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • Straightnnarrow

    Thank you Mr Morgan and the Warwick Beacon for your excellent letter. Instead of pulling the Stars & Bars down, we should be raising it in defiance of this out of control federal government which provides more protection to the Canadian geese than to its own citizens Would that Rhode island had the nerve to separate today!

    Friday, July 31, 2015 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    Fly the nazi flag while wearing your klan sheet so long as you keep it on your own property. The ACLU will even protect that.

    It is when it is on PUBLIC ground that there is an issue.

    Sieg Heil.

    Friday, July 31, 2015 Report this

  • albenson

    I just read Jim Morgan's excellent letter about the Confederate flag. Mr. Morgan seems to have done his homework on the real reasons for the War of Northern Aggression. Few people today seem to know the real reasons for that war, of which slavery was only one among several and it wasn't the main reason by any means, no matter what the news media tells you today.

    I don't know if Mr. Morgan will read this or not but if he does he can contact me at cpprhd10@aol.com It sounds like he and I are pretty much on the same page and I'd enjoy visiting via email with him.

    Al Benson Jr.

    Friday, July 31, 2015 Report this