In recent years the Confederate Flag has been maligned as a symbol of racism.
Confederate: (The World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary) (1)-" a country, person, etc. joined with another for mutual support or joint action." The original 13 colonies were a confederation.
The United States was originally a confederation of states, with each running their own state government. The 10th Amendment to our Constitution provided the federal government only with certain specific rights. Everything not specifically delegated to the federal government was supposed to be left to the state governments.
In their quest for expansion of federal power, President Lincoln and his supporters ignored the 10th Amendment to our Constitution and started the War of Northern Aggression. (so called "Civil War.)
The war of 1861-1865 was not a civil war. It was fought between two nations. When the Constitution was ratified the states retained the right to secede. When the rights of the Southern States were abrogated, they exercised that privilege. After withdrawing from the Union, they formed their own government, the Confederate States of America, a separate government. The state of Massachusetts had threatened to exercise this right only a few years previously, over the Louisiana Territory. The war was fought for constitutional rights.
This war was not fought over the issue of slavery. The North did not at first fight to free the slaves. "I have no purpose, directly, or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the states where it exists," said Lincoln early in the conflict. The Union Congress overwhelmingly endorsed this position in July 1861, some three months after the war began in April. Within a year however, desperately trying to regain waning public support for the war, both Lincoln and the Congress decided to make emancipation of slaves in Confederate States a Union war policy.
It is interesting the U.S. Gen. Grant didn't free his own slaves until after the war was over. Gen. Lee himself didn't believe in slavey and had already freed his slaves. Another interesting fact is that only 6 percent of Southerners owned slaves, and among this 6 percent were 13,000 free blacks who owned slaves themselves.
The truth is that the vast majority of white people were very poor and had to work just as hard as the slaves to survive, and out of necessity, so did their sharecroppers.
The victor in a war always gets to write the history. Consequently, much of our history is hogwash.
Many relevant facts are either omitted or distorted for political purposed, much the same as the propaganda put out by our major networks and "news" papers.
Impeach present federal judges and restore constitutional government.
All of the above is what the Confederate flag means to me. Long may it wave.
http://reformed-theology.org/southern/general.htm