Why America lost the "Civil War"

http://calltodecision.com/Civil%20War.html ^ | October 30, 2002 | Nat G. Rudulph

[trek]

If the South had won the War Between the States, (as I recall it described as a youth), it would have created Europe in North America. The Republic would have degenerated into a mass of bickering, war torn, parochial States. Do you really think that the 13 States of the Confederacy would have been it? I doubt it. Read the Federalist Papers. The Founders were well grounded in history when they established the Republic.

That said, I have more than a little sympathy with your view that the origins of the Leviathan can be traced in part to the War Between the States. But surely we can work to restore the Republic within the framework established by the Founders.

[trek]

Oops, 11 States in the Confederacy. 13 original colonies. But I hope you get my point.

[breakem]

Pointing out the nobility of the slave states. LOL!

[Hacksaw]

Our resident nutcase, who I will not name, freepmailed me after I reported his abusing of a pro South poster where he said the Southerner would be happy about the DC snipings. The Freepmail was deleted unread.

[Petronski]

...Southerners defending home and country, rather than fomenting a political coup.

Uh, yeah.

[limitedgov]

"That said, I have more than a little sympathy with your view that the origins of the Leviathan can be traced in part to the War Between the States."

Thank you for your sympathy. The War Between the States was the second battle of the American Revolution... the Republic of America lost. Empire won and what you refer to as "the Leviathan" was born. Our Federal Government became the Central Government and so it goes.

There is no bickering among the "Sovereign" states. Bickering is not allowed

[PatrioticAmerican]

This article goes to show that might is right. We can be a civil people, but we can also turn on each other in a heartbeat. Our current government situation also shows that the government can turn evil in a second. Challenge people in power and they turn against those that gave them their power.

[Aurelius]

Southerners, or some anyhow, practised slavery, moreover in a particulary egregious form. We recognize that practise todays as dreadfully wrong, but they did not. They were morally in error, but one can be morally in error and still be capable of noblity. So I find there to be no basis for your reported laughter.

It is entirely possible, if people like Peter Singer and his ilk get their way, that in a hundred years we will be as condemned for our carnivorous diet as southerners of 150 years ago are condemned today for practising slavery.

[jimtorr]

""Many Southerners avoid using it because of the implication that there were factions in every locality.""

Um, well, yes. You must know that there certainly were many factions.

Secession in the Confederacy was county-by-county. There were large numbers of counties all over the south that never did secede. The eastern half of Tennessee, for example, and what is now West Virginia. Kentucky, as a state, never secceded either.

For that matter, each Confederate State seems to have been its own faction.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Every Condederate soldier was a Democrat, and every rebel collaborator in the North was a Democrat. In the South, at least 40% of the people remained loyal to the U.S. Government -- the blacks (don't they count?) plus people in Appalachia and the Ozarks, whom the Confederates called "billy yanks in the hills" or "hill billies". How can people today condemn people in this country waging war (jihad) against the government today while praising those who in the 1860s killed 400,000 U.S. troops? For history from the Republican point of view, read "Back to Basics for the Republican Party" at www.republicanbasics.com

[Beernoser]

A few comments...

First, 13 Confederate States cann be correct as Kentucky and Missouri each had representation in the Confederate Congress. They each had reps in two congresses at once including governors etc. That's why their were `13 stars on the Confederate flag.

I believe Maryland would have seceeded were a vote allowed. I base this opinion on the fact that Lincoln won less than 3 % of the popular vote in 1860, and Douglas, the other northern canidate won 6.5 %.

The reason I reject the term Civil War is a civil war is when two groups fight for the same government, like the Russian Civil War or the English Civil War. This was more properly defined a s a war of secession, like the American Revolution. Therefore, I believe the War For Soouthern Independence is less controversial and more accurate.

I don't know why people assume the CSA would break apart. It didn't. Even under the most trying circumstances, it stayed together throughout the war. Once the Mississippi was cut and the CSA was split into two, the Trans-Mississippi region fought as hard as any other part, and there was never any move to secession or separate peace. I don't get this argument that is argued in history clatches everywhere. While nothing lasts forever, I don't see why this government would be any less stable than any other. I think governments tend to get more powerful over time anyway.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Every Confederate soldier was a Democrat, and every rebel collaborator in the North was a Democrat. In the South, at least 40% of the people remained loyal to the U.S. Government -- the blacks (don't they count?) plus people in Appalachia and the Ozarks, whom the Confederates called "billy yanks in the hills" or "hill billies". How can people today condemn people in this country waging war (jihad) against the government today while praising those who in the 1860s killed 400,000 U.S. troops? For history from the Republican point of view, read "Back to Basics for the Republican Party" at www.republicanbasics.com

[Aurelius]

"How can people today condemn people in this country waging war (jihad) against the government today while praising those who in the 1860s killed 400,000 U.S. troops?"

The soldiers in the latter case were defending their country against an invading foreign army. Seems a considerable difference to me.

[Grand Old Partisan]

The United States is my country, your country, and the country of every American then and now. Incidentally, in addition to the 200,000 southern blacks who fought for the U.S. flag, so did 100,000 southern whites. They somehow do not get mentioned in history books because, now and then, most history books are and were written by Democrats. There were 35 regiments of white southerners in the U.S. army during the 1860s -- such as the 10th U.S. Tennessee Infantry, the 2nd U.S. Florida Cavalry, and General Sherman's personal escort during his march to the sea, the 1st U.S. Alabama Cavalry.

[agrandis]

The criminal enterprise known as the democratic party today is very similar to the Radical Republicans of the 19th century.

What never gets reported in the history books, are the Blacks who fought as Confederates, Lincoln's racist views, and the outrageous economic and moral bullying by the North in the years just prior to the war.

[agrandis]

There were (and still are) more differences between Yankees and Southerners than between Yankees and English-speaking Canadians.

That says it all.

[Beernoser]

No every Confederate soldier was not a Democrat. Many, many were former Whigs who voted for the Constitutional Union candidate, John Bell in 1860. Bell won the important states of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky in the election.

One of the less reported facts of the Civil War was how huge numbers of southerners who voted against secession, dutifully volunteered for the Confederate Army or government once the state left the Union. Examples of this are everywhere, but some of the most famous examples were Robert Lee, Jubal Early and Alexander Stevens.

[Aurelius]

"The United States is my country, your country, and the country of every American then and now."

Obviously the Confederates didn't think so, and they had a right to that opinion.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Zero, repeat ZERO, blacks fought on the Confederate side during the Civil War. At the onset, a regiment of Louisiana free blacks was formed, but the CSA refused to accept it, which then joined the Union forces. Two weeks before Appomattox, the Confederate Congress authorized black regiments, but none were formed. To put Lincoln's racial views in context, the Democrat position at the time was that blacks were to be chained and whipped. As for the Radical Republicans, their name referred to them being radically against slavery. Their bad reputation in history books is due to the fact that most history book are written by Democrats.