"I don't know that I'd say they take it too seriously, for it's a serious topic, but a little civility all around might make the read more interesting for those of us who lurk."
I agree 100%. Those who resort to just trying to be rude and nasty are simply afraid of the truth being told. The obvious animosity on both sides is a clear indication that things are not right. Otherwise there would be no need for bantering. The Yankees that are at odds with this, know very well that wrongs were committed, which were not allotted for in our constitution. The Confederates are simply sick and tired of them continuously demoralizing the South with their nonsense. Anyway, the whole point is, our constitution does not allow a president to conduct war on his own people. So, there is no, honest Abe. He conducted this war for money. The South was his bread and butter and he was not going to let them leave. The North had outrageous and unconstitutional taxes ONLY for the South. The South's biggest mistake was trusting that the North would abide by our constitution. However, as we see today, constitutions simply don't mean diddly squat. So, what means very little today, had it's humble beginnings during the Lincoln administration where an all-powerful, non-accountable, centralized government was established...
Also...This was exactly what Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were quite certain would happen. Patrick Henry, much more so than Jefferson. For Henry REFUSED to attend certain meetings for this very reason...
free dixie,sw
Why does the South have to be demoralizes by people just telling the truth about the slaveowners' rebellion?
Here's a fine example of demoralization from the diary of Confederate Myra Inman on May 8, 1865:
"Mysterious it is to me why God permitted such a sad calamity to befall our South. Why He permitted the noblest blood of the South to be sacrificed for the bondage of the sable race"
Too bad Miss Inman didn't have Free Republic or she could have read that the noblest blood of the South was sacrificed for tariffs or states' rights and not for the "bondage of the sable race".
Yet again the words of the Confederates themselves reveal the ugly foundation of the CSA.
What taxes would those be?
Wrong. The South's bigest mistake was their prideful belief they could ever whip the North in a fight. In their hubris they fired on the US Flag at Ft. Sumter and suffered the consequences...