The Confederate Cause
(or You don't have to be a southerner to be a Confederate)

I march to a different drummer. Born in the north, to a patriotic upper middle-class northern family, I find myself concluding that the wrong side won the Civil War. The history, which is always written by the victors - in this case the north, tells us that Confederates fought to retain slaves. Some did, and many who now fly the flag of the Confederacy advocate racism. This is a bastardization of the Confederate States of America, and the cause for which men like Robert E. Lee fought.

My journey into the study of the Confederacy began with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution (http://www.holtorf.com/ray/constitu.htm). Whenever I learn that the government has coerced a vote for something, I tend to dig into the "why." The 14th is a Constitutional crisis waiting to happen, but it was used to justify the Civil War.

From that research, I believe there is only one conclusion. But it starts with this simple question. If the South simply wanted to leave the Union, why was it not allowed to do so? I believe that the words in the Declaration of Independence CLEARLY give each and every man the RIGHT to give their consent to be governed, and the RIGHT "to throw off such government":

...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, 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...it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government , and to provide new Guards for their future security. ...
-The Declaration of Independence

Those are not the opinions of one man, that IS the Declaration of Independence. If someone can show me words in the Constitution which counter these rights, please forward them.

Many have said it better than I could ever hope:

"The Civil War wasn't just a victory of North over South; it was a victory for centralized government over the states and federalism. It destroyed the ability of the states to protect themselves against the destruction of their reserved powers. Must we all be happy about this? [Abraham] Lincoln himself -- the real Lincoln, that is -- would have deprecated the unintended results of the war. Though he sometimes resorted to dictatorial methods, he never meant to create a totalitarian state. It's tragic that slavery was intertwined with a good cause, and scandalous that those who defend that cause today should be smeared as partisans of slavery.."
-Joseph Sobran (syndicated columnist)

"Like most war leaders, he [Lincoln] grossly distorted and exaggerated the motives of his enemy. He constantly insisted that the South wanted to “destroy” the Union, when it merely wanted to withdraw from it. He called honorable men like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee “traitors,” though they never betrayed anyone in their lives. He accused the South of “aggression,” when it was the South that was being invaded, and truly destroyed, by the Union armies. Having assured the country that he had neither the power nor the inclination to disturb slavery, Lincoln made the destruction of slavery his lofty war aim in the middle of the war."
-Joseph Sobran http://www.sobran.com

"I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."--Abraham Lincoln. March 4, 1861 Inaugural address

So why DID the Civil War happen?

A Conversation with a fellow libertarian Republican regarding the Constitution: