I just wanted to explain some things about the War Between the States considering our guild has several (at least) very ignorant people in it.

I am now going to explain a few things about the War for Southern Indepence. It was NOT about slavery. The war was fought for the right of the local people to govern themselves as opposed to a centralized government controlled by a few men hundreds of miles away. As stated by Thomas Jefferson, "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government." The war was also fought for the same reason the War for American Independence was fought. Taxation without representation, as it were. The North was constantly trying to raise taxes on Southerners through high tariffs on imported goods, in order to protect the inefficient big businesses in the North which could not compete with manufactured goods from England and France with whom the South traded cotton. Within Lincoln's first month in office, the U.S. Congress had passed the Morrill Tariff, which was the highest import tax in U.S. history, more than doubling the import tax rate from 20% to 47%, which was enough to bankrupt many Southerners. This oppressive tax was one reason that Southern states legally withdrew from the voluntary Union. Slavery was NOT the cause nor the purpose of the American Civil War.

I am a Southerner and I have lived my entire life in Tennessee. I believe I have showed myself to be intelligent, honorable, and without any sense of racism. The majority of people living in the South are traditional, honorable, and respectful. We are not a bunch of racist rednecks running around shooting black guys and doing it with our sisters.

I hope that you will all take the time to seek the truth rather than believing propaganda in the future. Here is a link to the site where I found much of my information: link Mordhak you may feel free to close this topic if you wish. I simply wanted to alleviate some of the ignorance floating around our guild.

Edit Mordhak - Moved to General Off-Topic

Very interesting, this is history channel material.

*Being that it's well thought out and written*

Quick bit of trivia, Robert E Lee actually supported the Union and was firmly against slavery. But when Virginia left the Union he felt what could only be called 'national loyalty' and joined the Virginian militia or whatever you choose to call it.

Also never forget that what the public heard was not always what the leader thought or did. Chances are the founder’s of the confederacy were prompted by the taxes but they all, or some of them, must have thought about the power it would give them. I mean if you can set your own taxes you can make a lot of money. Never forget that most Humans are despicably greedy people deep down. Politicians are usually even more so.

Also don't forget that Lincoln for all his faults was in many ways a philanthropist and he was also deeply set against slavery in any form. (As it happen so were Britain and France and most of Europe.) It could be that the oppressive taxes against cotton imports were an indirect method of getting the slave states to voluntarily get rid of slavery. When you think about it most of the slaves worked on plantations and most grew cotton. If the owners couldn't sell the cotton but still needed to feed their slaves they would probably much rather free the slaves and so free themselves of the burden. Problem was the plan backfired.

Robert E. Lee was against slavery, for he freed the slaves he inheirted .... he was also offered Genearl of the Union army .... but like his father he thought "Virginia is my country."

I think the militia you are talking about is the "Army of the Potomac" which was very good for many Union assualts were thwarted by them. Though I dont think Robert e. lee was in control of this , for he was moer higehr rank.

As for the money: No, for the president of the Confederacy (Jackson it think) was actaully forced in, he didnt even know of the elections, in other words he didnt do any low politics .... the people just loved him.

Though you could say the same for the Union leaders for putting so many tariffs on the cotton, they were purposely taking advantage of the south (for very few cotton places were up north i think) Also, the Confederacy suceeded peacefully, exept that Lincoln did not let all the forts be abandoned ... Lie Sumpter right smack in the South Carolina ports .... how would you feel is Nazi germany had something like that in WW2?

Lincoln was actaully a pretty extreme abolishionest in my opinion, though the Emancipatioon Proclimation didnt free the Slaves in the north ... strange eh? They were only freed after the war.



Why the tariffs killed the Souths pockets and families:

The US government would put not only a high tax on tariffs ... but would demand that the South sell at a very low price. That isnt good, for they were greedy as Zelda said .... they didnt care how many people starved, as long as they could have silk and wine tehy were happy.

I read something once that about 1/15 fought for slaves ..... ON both sides. No matter how much makeup and powder we put on war, it only stands for:

- Gold
- Glory
- Greed (thought the spanish said god) yeah right .... look at the crusades, and you'll see what they called fighting for god ..... money .... the modern god.

(the spanish's reasons for the aztec empire)


Also, did you know that when the Union captured the Confederate President, they put in him a dungeon (really) and let him die slowly there .... Ha, righteous me arse ......... they were very VERY harsh on the south after the war.


Rednecks, anti-semitist, KKK, and other such organizations are not related to the Confederacy (except for KKK, but the only link to CSA is that it was started by Confederate soldiers as a dress (or tea?) party or something)

If you read my post again you may understand some of what I was trying to say. There are a few reasons why the emancipation proclamation didn't extend to slave owning states in the North. Some of it may have been that fact that even though Lincoln was the president he still had to play 'give and take' with members of his Government. It also may have been the fact that he knew that by making the war about slavery he could force the northern slave states to end it on their own as the nation began to relate slavery to being a southerner and therefore being in the wrong (to their eyes, propaganda was around then you know.)

The War for Southern Independence was fought for the exact same reasons the War for American Independence.

Lincoln had plans to send all the freed blacks to the Caribbean and Africa. The plan obviously did not go through but the point still stands. He did not want slavery (some would say because his supporters didn't want slavery) and so when he saw a chance he "freed" the slaves.

He didn't make it about slavery. Hollywood made it about slavery.

Oh indeed, he did not did he. He just declared all slaves in the south free thus pissing off the entire confederacy. It was just a rallying flag, another reason to get more support for the war. It could be argued that he was doing it to gain the support of the academics, who were largely against slavery. It could be that he wanted it to allow him the chance to gain access to a fresh source of recruits from among the escaping slaves. There are limitless reasons why he could have done it, the fact remains that he did do it and in doing so he made history. Of course it helped that he won the war.

He won the war at the cost of 600,000 American lives because the Yankee businessmen wanted more money. Slavery would've ended peacefully in a few decades without Lincoln and his Emacipation Proclamation.

Zelda, the Emancipation Proclmation was in 1863 ... the middle of the Civil war. At this time Confederate diplomats were in Frnace and britain, getting support for the war, <Lincoln proclamimed this to stop the British and French from helpnig the confederacy , for both were free-countries (no slaves). though I didslkie how everybody thinks the Emancipation Proclimation freed all slaves, for until around 2 years after it .... all slaves were free. Though the war casued the freed slaves to almost become slaves again because of the opoor conditions and such ... overseen by Northerners and Southerners alike .... for it was to many people ... in "rebuilding" the south . ... which meant taking from those who were supporters of confederates and using those items to fund the rebuilding.

The fact remains he won. The price was high but if the union had remained fractured I don't even want to speculate at how high the price would have been.

The Confederacy toldLincoln that they would give up slavery IF Lincoln let them breakoff peacefully .... Lincoln was the attacker .... Sortof like George Bush ....

Personally I'm glad Lincoln won, from an objective (slightly) point of view the concequences of a split America could have led to a century and a half of tension and bloody clashes. Can you imagine if WW1 had spilled over onto the American continent and if the North and the South had clashed. The blood shed would have been huge.

Then again nothing is ever certain and many things are possible, what is certain is that Lincoln won. Lincold won and the confederacy lost. But it shows the US's strength that it even recognises the Confederacy. Be thankfull you live in a country where you are even allowed to fly the flag of the losers.

Ok, If u were thinking of me for the rascist/confederate stuff, this is only in my sig becausse I think its cool. Alright?

There were black regiments defending Georgia when it wwas attacked...... many volunteered, without even requesting freedom ... Why would your sig be rascist? Im confused. Also, correctly speaking I Confederacy and rascist shoudlnt eb put together ... thats like saying George Bush/smart .... they just arent similar.

What nations dont allow that? (non-dictatorship)


Do you think The french resistance should ahve rolled on there bellies when Germany conquered France? No, they kept fightibng, but for now only politics and such can be "shot" at people. Which is happening.

A lot of the Civil War was about state rights, and fear of the federal government getting to big and controlling, which ironically it has. People felt loyal to their states more than the country, which is why Robert E. Lee went with the Confederacy, because Virginia did. Also, the French Resistance was crazy small, and the collaborators were much more sizable, and even had French soldiers in North Africa fighting the Allies.