Free Republic

Americans Owe Confederate History Respect By CHRIS EDWARDS The Time Has Come To Take A Stand After attending the Confederate Memorial Day service on June 1 in Higginsville, I found myself believing our nation should be ashamed for not giving more respect and recognition to our ancestors. I understand that some find the Confederate flag offensive because they feel it represents slavery and oppression. Well, here are the facts: The Confederate flag flew over the South from 1861 to 1865. That's a total of four years. The U.S. Constitution was ratified in April 1789, and that document protected and condoned...

Imagine that America had a Chief Justice of the United States who actually believed in enforcing the Constitution and, accordingly, issued an opinion that the war in Iraq was unconstitutional because Congress did not fulfill its constitutional duty in declaring war. Imagine also that the neocon media, think tanks, magazines, radio talk shows, and television talking heads then waged a vicious, months-long smear campaign against the chief justice, insinuating that he was guilty of treason and should face the punishment for it. Imagine that he is so demonized that President Bush is emboldened to issue an arrest warrant for the...

Lincolnian Totalitarians by Thomas J. DiLorenzoby Thomas J. DiLorenzo In his book Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the Civil War the literary critic Edmund Wilson explained the most important consequence of that war in a single profound paragraph: The impulse to unification was strong in the nineteenth century . . . and if we would grasp the significance of the Civil War in relation to the history of our time, we should consider Abraham Lincoln in connection with the other leaders who have engaged in similar tasks. The chief of these leaders have been Bismarck and Lenin....

Speakers Assail 'Political Correctness' and Explain What Thousands of Soldiers Fought For Sometime around dusk Sunday, people wandered among the plain, age-stained tombstones of Confederate soldiers in Winchester's Stonewall Cemetery.They read from the slates, sending names and dates of births, deaths, and battles fought into the twilight. Most only spoke loud enough for themselves and perhaps one or two nearby to hear.Members of the 33rd Virginia Company D Honor Guard (above) participate in the 138th annual Confederate Memorial Day Service at Stonewall Cemetery in Winchester Sunday. Emma MacBeth, 7, of Stephens City (below) reads the tombstones of Confederate dead...

GRAND BLANC - Bringing flags bearing the Confederate insignia to school could cost two Grand Blanc High School seniors their diplomas. School administrators met Thursday to determine the fates of the two students and a third who was involved in an altercation sparked by the flags. School officials wouldn't announce the outcome of the meeting. The Confederate flag has sparked a heated debate at the school about whether it's simply a symbol of the South or one of racial discrimination and slavery. The two students who brought the flags to school Wednesday said there's nothing racist about the Confederate flag....

A few years ago I was a pretty regular poster to FR (under an old name, I changed names when I forgot my password.) I complained a few times that the flag used for Georgia profiles was the old GA flag that had the Confederate Battle flag in it. I was told that they had just not gotten around to changing it, or that they couldn't find a waving flag of the new version. Fine. I know changes take time. But now we sit here 3 years (and two flag changes) since the GA flag was changed, and FR still...

Dear History Professor,It was wholly a pleasure to get your thoughtful letter, and read your response to my comparing the bitter remnants of the old Confederacy and the new terrorists of the Arab world. You seem to have thought this thing through. Yes, both old guards, Arab and Southern, represent a reaction against modernity and all its works — and both are heirs of a once great civilization that brought on its own ruin. Neither can come to terms with its own history. ("Forget, Hell!") As you note, "Both are/were led by cultured elites representing traditional, agrarian societies in which...

Today we morn the great loss of Lt. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Who died 141 years ago today. May the greatest General ever to walk the face of the earth Rest in Peace.

<p>Saddam Hussein's devilish practice of using human shields isn't exactly new. It was pioneered by an American, in fact, during the last year of the Civil War.</p> <p>"Your officers, now in my hands, will be placed by me under your fire, as an act of retaliation," Union departmental commander Gen. John G. Foster wrote his Southern counterpart in an edict, and with that a sordid new standard was set in the conduct of war.</p>

The Hunley Burial This site does not engage in rebel flag waving nor does it have any intention of refighting the Civil War. That being said, we have the utmost respect for the men, women (yes, there were) and children who stood up for their right to freely exit a union they freely entered. This past weekend, the crew members of The Hunley, the first submarine to ever successfully sink an enemy ship were laid to rest in Charleston, SC. Fourteen governers from the south were invited to attend. A grand total of zero showed up. While some cited scheduling...