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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela

July 4th And The Confederate Flag

By Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D. July 2, 2020

On July 4, 1776 the thirteen American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain for a long train of “repeated injuries and usurpations”. Those who know unrevised Southern history will see parallels between secession from England and secession of the South from the United States.

The distorted history about the Civil War and Reconstruction -- the “Lost Cause” -- has been a powerful weapon for Marxists to use as justification for hatred, violence, chaos, destruction of property, and outright murder. The end goal is open revolution and a take down of our Republic to be replaced by their socialist government.

Using the excuse that Confederate monuments are racist symbols, communist Black Lives Matter and Antifa have bullied state and local governments into removing anything Confederate.

The Confederate battle flag, sometimes the Southern Cross,has been appropriated by radical hate groups because it is the reigning symbol of Southern history and pride. It had a very strong Christian association to Confederate soldiers and the Southern people because it was a symbol of defiance against Yankee tyranny and the right of a free people to determine their own destiny.

Many Americans who fly the Confederate flag have ancestors who lost their lives defending their Southern homes and rebelling against a central government that had become tyrannical. These warriors are buried with honor on American soil beneath the flag. Their fathers and great-grandfathers have proudly flown the flag over their homes, at seats of government, and even on U.S. ships at sea.

It has been flown proudly across the South for more than 150 years -- until now.

U.S. Armed Forces Cave

The U.S. armed forces have caved, labeling the flag a “symbol of hate”. Today anyone who has a Confederate tattoo is deemed unfit to serve in our armed forces.

U.S. Capitol

State flags at the U.S. Capitol tunnel will no longer be displayed due to the controversial Confederate symbol.v Prints of commemorative coins of each state will replace the flags that hung in the tunnel that runs between a House office building and the Capitol.

Mississippi Republicans Cave on Their State Flag

Mississippi was the last Southern state with a state flag that carried the Confederate battle emblem, a blue St. Andrews cross. Thanks to Republican lawmakers who caved to Black Lives Matter, the 1894 flag will be removed. Other Southern Republican governors had already caved on the historical flag and removed it as their state flag.

Last week the GOP-led Mississippi legislature voted to remove the Confederate emblem despite the fact that voters had decided in 2001 that they did not want the flag changed. Although Governor Tate Reeves has long openly opposed changing the flag without voter approval, he caved to communist pressure.Of the 75 Republicans in the legislature, 40 voted with Democrats to replace the state symbol. More evidence that America has a one party system with Republicans voting along Democrat lines.

Mississippians are deeply angered by Reeves’ action and his ignoring the will of the voters in removing the 126-year-old flag.

NASCAR Caves

On June 10, the Southern racing organization NASCAR caved to Black Lives Matter and banned the Confederate flag from its league events and races, drawing angry responses from those Southern fans who have been instrumental in its achieving enormous success.

Before the race on Sunday, the Sons of Confederate Veterans flew their plane over the Alabama Talladega Superspeedway with a giant Confederate flag and a trailing banner announcing a drive to "Defund NASCAR". Cars flying the flag were lined up on Speedway Boulevard just outside the Talledega gates.

SCV issued a statement to the Columbia Daily Herald:"NASCAR's banning the display of the Confederate battle flag by its fans is nothing less than trampling upon Southerners' First Amendment Right of free expression.”

Civil War Myths

The historical myths about the war have been used aggressively since the 1960s by the progressive media, academics, and politicians to promote the war as a “moral crusade” against slavery.Yet people of that era knew better.

“It is said slavery is all we are fighting for, and if we give it up we give up all. Even if this were true, which we deny, slavery is not all that our enemies are fighting for. It is merely the pretense to establish sectional superiority and a more centralized form of government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties.” -- Gen. Patrick Cleburne C.S.A. Jan. 2, 1864. (emphasis added)

“The Northern onslaught upon slavery is no more than a piece of specious humbug disguised to conceal its desire for economic control of the United States.” -- Charles Dickens, English author (emphasis added)

“The contest is really for empire on the side of the North, and for independence on that of the South, and in this respect we recognize an exact analogy between the North and the Government of George III, and the South and the Thirteen Revolted Provinces.” – London Times, November 7, 1861 (emphasis added)

The fact is that the North was just as entertwined with slavery as the South. The agrarian South had no ships. It was Northern ships that sailed out to buy African slaves from other black Africans – for settlement in both the North and South.

Union Cause

The tariff – not slavery – was a major cause of the sectional conflict. Protectionist tariffs are generally harmful for economic growth and are a political means of redistributing regional and commercial wealth. Ninety-five (95)% of the U.S. government’s revenue came from import tariffs.The South paid 83% of that revenue yet received only 25% of the benefit. Seventy-five (75)% of the tax revenue was spent on Northern public works and industrial subsidies.

The 1860 Republican Platform and Lincoln’s presidential campaign supported the Morrill Tariff which was passed two days before his inauguration. The tariff would increase from 16% in 1860 to 34% within three years. The Morrill Tariff would enormously benefit Northern manufacturers but would have a devastating effect on Southern states in terms of agriculture costs, export revenues and profits.

If the North lost access to this import revenue, the effect on the Northern economy would be devastating. Because the Northern economy was dependent upon manufacturing for the South and shipping Southern cotton, loss of that would be devastating.

“The North cut off from Southern cotton, rice, tobacco, and other products would lose three fourths of her commerce, and a very large proportion of her manufactures. And thus those great fountains of finance would sink very low. . . . Would the North in such a condition as that declare war against the South?” -- Gen. Henry L. Benning (Georgia Supreme Court Justice prior to war, Fort Benning named for him)

General Benning pinpointed the issue. The North would never tolerate being treated the way they treated the South. So why should Southerners put up with the Northern rape of their economy? They had declared their independence from Great Britain and they did not intend to swap one tyrannical government for another. The London Times in 1861 clearly saw the parallel between independence from Great Britain and Southern independence – secession – from the U.S.

With the election of Lincoln and passage of the new Morrill Tariff, Southern leaders in South Carolina and the Gulf States began calling for secession in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. In his first Inaugural Address, Lincoln swore to enforce the tariff in the seceded states because the Northern economy could not withstand the loss of import duties. He needed to gain control control of Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harbor, built and owned by South Carolina, to collect his tariffs so he sent federal 75,000 troops to unconstitutionally invade the state.

Conclusion

Why would Southerners, with hardly a whimper, allow the Confederate battle flag – the reigning symbol of Southern history and pride -- to be removed from Southern locations and even from their own cars or homes? It’s okay to fly an LGBT flag or a Black Lives Matter flag but not a Confederate flag?

Unfortunately, many Southerners no longer know our own history and fear being labeled a racist if they fly the flag. We have failed to educate our children and even allowed others to indoctrinate them with lies about their Southern heritage.

It is critical that we teach our children about Americans who were brave enough to fight tyranny. We must teach them about the thousands of men in grey and their brave deeds so that they shall not have died in vain. We must teach them to be proud of their Southern culture and its many contributions to the rich tapestry of our American heritage.

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