[Hacksaw]

The flag of slavery???

No such thing, John. The overwhelming number of people who fought for the CSA were fighting for their home state, not slavery.

Even if the CSA had won, slavery would never have lasted - in fact General Lee disagreed with it and freed all his slaves before he took command.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Exactly. General Lee disagreed with Slavery. Only a very small portion of Southerners were wealthy enough to own slaves.

[jlogajan]

The overwhelming number of people who fought for the CSA were fighting for their home state, not slavery.

I am aware of the "revisionism" to claim that there was little link between slavery and the Civil War, however that is simply not the case. The Confederacy was organized to maintain the institution of slavery. The US government kept trying to limit the scope of slavery for the decades leading up to the war -- and the slave states were constantly reiterating their support for slavery and their anger at federal attempts to restrict it.

The Confederate Flag stood for slavery. That's history. Live with it.

[x]

Even if the CSA had won, slavery would never have lasted - in fact General Lee disagreed with it and freed all his slaves before he took command.

Not true.

[GOPyouth]

Even if the CSA had won, slavery would never have lasted

Oh, I'm sure the Democractic South would have pushed for better rights for blacks at the time.
Let's say it's true what you say, but when it ended the Democrat led South sure as heck were quick to jump on the Klan bandwagon, Jim Crow laws, and made dang sure up until the 1960's that black children could even go to school with white children.

Granted equal rights weren't going to happen over-nite, but as far up as the 1960's was unacceptable in the Democratic controlled South. Matt

[taxcontrol]

To further your points:

Owning slaves was expensive - the VAST majority of the whites in the south could not afford to own slaves. There were actually only a small percentage of slave owners in the south, mostly plantation owners.

Slavery could have been abolished in the south had the north simply put it's industrial know how towards fixing the problems of farm work. Had a machine been able to do the work of slaves and done so with less cost, existing slaves would have been 'dumped on the slave market because of the cost of housing and feeding the slave.

I have long contended that slavery was NOT the issue that started the cival war. However, when Lincon needed a complelling moral issue to keep the Union together, it became the issue that caused the greatest outcry with northern churches. Lincon then used this (as any smart politician would) to motivate his base.

Just my observations

[Ditto]

"in fact General Lee disagreed with it and freed all his slaves before he took command."

Not accurate. I know of no record of Lee ever buying a slave himself and as a career military officer stationed from post-to-post around the country, he had little need and likely little money of his own, to buy slaves. Lee married well, but he was not a wealthy man on his own account. The slaves he "owned" where inherited from his father-in-law, the last of the Custus family who owned the plantation now known as Arlington National Cemetery. The conditions of the will leaving the slaves and property to Lee required that all the slaves be given their freedom papers within 5 years of Custus' death. Lee did free those slave that were still in his procession until the year 1862. Those who had remained at Arlington were "freed" as contraband in 1861 when Union troops occupied that plantation and Gen. Lee no longer had access to them. There are also accounts from former slaves owned by Gen Lee that say he was not a "nice" master.

Lee, like Jefferson, “theoretically” opposed slavery. There is no record, however, of either ever acting upon their "beliefs."

[WhiskeyPapa]

No such thing, John. The overwhelming number of people who fought for the CSA were fighting for their home state, not slavery.

Whites in the rebel army were overwhelmingly fighting for white supremacy.

The record is very clear on that. They made it very plain.

Walt

[Non-Sequitur]

Even if the CSA had won, slavery would never have lasted.

Define 'never have lasted'. If you mean slavery would not exist in a free confederacy of today then you're probably right. Would slavery have gone on another 30 or 50 or 75 years? Quite possibly. The fact that the southern states went to great lengths to protect slavery in their state and the confederate constitution is an indication that they didn't expect it to die out soon.