Don't spin the Civil War

Washington Post ^ | 12.27.10 | E.J. DIONNE jR.

[trumandogz]

The Civil War is about to loom very large in the popular memory. We would do well to be candid about its causes and not allow the distortions of contemporary politics or long-standing myths to cloud our understanding of why the nation fell apart.

The coming year will mark the 150th anniversary of the onset of the conflict, which is usually dated to April 12, 1861, when Confederate batteries opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on federal troops occupying Fort Sumter. Union forces surrendered the next day, after 34 hours of shelling.

[Americanexpat]

Oh man, not thios shit again.

[RC2]

Nothing to worry about here. s/ Our kids today don’t know anything about the Civil War, where it happened or why. That’s one reason the south should fly the Rebel Battle Flag..........if nothing else, the kids may ask what it’s for.

[PalmettoMason]

IBTTGTTSBR. (In Before This Thread Goes To The Smokey Back Room)

[piroque]

bump,,,later

[Sporke]

More yankee revisionist history. :)

[piroque]

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/confederate_president_jefferso.html

[Tribune7]

They should teach it accurately. The anti-slave faction was the Republicans. The pro-slave faction -- whether it be northern copperheads or southern successionists -- were Democrats.

Regarding the role of religion in the conflict they should learn the words to both Dixie and the Battle Hymn of the Republic then compare them.

[skeeter]

Historian EJ Dionne Jr has spoken.

The "progressives" are mandating everything else, why not a state approved official version of history, too?

Fits right in with this crowd.

[org.whodat]

You mean the war of northern aggression will be spun again.

[Forgotten Amendments]

The memo is out. Chrissy Matthews was spewing this last week. I guess it's the talking points for the holidays. My guess is: next will be Gerson.

[Dr. Sivana]

As soon as you call it the “Civil War”, you are already spinning.

I am a CT Yankee who simply calls it the War of 1861. That is the most neutral term I can come up with.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

I can see the Black Racists and Bigots coming out and whining and lying about all Civil War.

This would be a good time for all those on FR to study up on Civil War history. Get to know the facts before the fiction starts getting spewed out

[trumandogz]

I wonder if they will have a reading of the CSA Constitution?

“No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed [by Congress]”

[texmexis best]

This is a really opportunity to establish in everyone’s mind that the Republican Party was anti-slavery and that Abe Lincoln was a Republican. You would be shocked at how many people do not know that.

[OL Hickory]

even us yankee folks from NJ can read this article and get a wiff of stink...

[Othniel]

I read two extremely illuminating books on the CW this year: April, 1865 and The PIG to the Civil War. Both were incredible, both gave the facts, and both had the take that the South was perfectly within its rights to split off from the Union. The latter gave an imaginary scenario whereby the South gave up on slavery (which, acc'd to the former, they were getting really close to doing anyway) and rejoined the Union in time to fight in WWI. No malice, no "reconstruction," none of that stuff. I think it should rightly be called "The War of Northern Aggression" as well as the "Civil War," and that as the assorted dates are marked, that the South as a whole, with the lifestyle, the economy, etc., needs to be seen for what it was: a bunch of guys who didn't like being pushed around by those they didn't feel had a right to do so.

Just my 2 cents. My GGGrandfather fought in the Iowa Regulars and was very active in Veterans' Affairs after the war, and I've only set foot in the south twice, so I guess I'm a Yankee.

[Graybeard58]

I predict 500 replies. I'll be the first to get things going.

Abraham Lincoln was a Saint.

[major-pelham]

Were this crowd in charge then, they’d have simply retreated from South Carolina and said ‘oh well’. When exactly did the slaves stop being slaves in Delaware again ?

[AU72]

The victor gets naming rights. Our War of Independence would have been called the Colonial Rebellion if GB won and the Civil War would have been the war of independence, or the war of northern aggression if the Confederacy prevailed.