So now there is a movement to remove all signs of the Confederacy from parts of the country that celebrate it as its heritage. Excuse me, what would that accomplish? The Confederacy did exist, its descendants celebrate their heroics, and lives on in museums. I actually love looking at the beauty of old plantation houses and the portraits of the owners who built them. Did the Confederacy represent racism and keeping slavery legal? I have no idea since my ancestors fought on the Union side from Iowa and Kentucky regiments. The South is not my heritage and will leave that answer to the Southern people.
But to the question of "Was slavery the cause of the Civil War?" I would say no. I have a Bachelor of Science in History to receive more information than the watered down version taught in high school history class. My professors with PhDs telling us exactly what they thought and encouraged us in our research to understand multiple points of view. British think American Revolution was a temper tantrum over taxes, while Americans think American Revolution was about freedom from tyranny. So who is right? I'll get to that later.
So what then caused the Civil War? States Rights, Slavery, Economics, or something else?
I think we have to look at the Revolutionary War to find the source of the Civil War. Reading biographies on George Washington and Thomas Jefferson I couldn't help but notice that all the reasons the South split from the Union were present during the Revolutionary War. I told you I would get this.
Grievances of the Confederacy:
1. The 10th Amendment stating any laws not designated by the US Constitution to be determined by the states, called States Rights.
Revolutionary tension: Who's in charge? In the beginning, the founding fathers were not united as we like to think. Some served out of self-interest and get rich out of this war. For many years, the colonies governed themselves from Jamestown's Don't work, Don't eat to Plymouth's Mayflower Compact to Williamsburg's House of Burgesses. The companies that founded the colonies blessed with a royal charter made their own rules how the colony should function so imagine a faraway king suddenly demanding after a war you pay taxes you can't pay because their laws prevent you from minting British coins and all taxes must be paid in British coin. In fact, the Spanish reel cut into 1/8 pieces called bits was the coin of the colonies had in their possession. Remember there were NO BANKS to trade for British coins to pay your taxes.
During the Revolutionary War, representatives fought over who should be the generals in charge of the army because they all wanted the top dog from their state. Besides George Washington, the other contenders were Thomas Johnson of Maryland (later Supreme Court justice), Charles Lee of Virginia who thought he should have been appointed top general and demanded compensation for forfeiting his British landholdings (he was later court martialed from the Continental Army), and Richard Montgomery of New York who died during the invasion of Canada. Once we became a country, Alexander Hamilton wanted a National Bank while others chimed how banks were not part of the Constitution and we should have only state banks.
Civil War settled the question that all National Laws supersede all state laws.
2. Simple economics.
Revolutionary tension: Colonial economies are exploitive in favor of the home country (British, French, Russian, whatever). Raw materials are taken from colonies and sent to the home country. Thus, manufactured goods are sent back to the colonies. That is how the colony economy works. Now, why can't all these colonials make their own manufactured goods? Simple, they are not allowed to. Iron manufacturing in Colonial America was banned so colonists had to buy British made nails, screws, keys, farming tools, and wire. Furthermore, Colonists shipping their raw materials had to pay all shipping costs, custom duties in London, unloading the goods fee, broker fees to sell it, and agent fees to shop for luxury goods like a felt hat that was banned from being produced in the colonies. Worse, what happens when your soil depleted of nutrients fails to continue to produce bumper cash crops (no fertilizers except for manure). Oh, you go into debt with promises of next year's crop will be better.
After the Revolution, industry boomed when America could make what it wanted with manufacturers from iron works to cotton mills. And mint their own coins. The Confederate States had a cash crop economy exploitive from these booming industries. In fact, when repeating rifles were invented and entered the Union army, the Confederates captured some of these supplies, but they didn't have the copper industry to make the casings needed for the cartridges necessary to utilize this weapon.
The Civil War didn't change the economics of the South, slaves who stayed simply turned into sharecroppers. Many slaves did leave for northern cities and founded black dominated neighborhoods like Harlem in NYC. Many slaves went west and became cowboys and gunslingers called Buffalo Soldiers by the Indians. When farm machinery was invented in the late 1800's, it changed the economics of the South and the sharecroppers disappeared by the mid-20th Century. The man who invented the cotton picker and revolutionized the industry was from Texas. Today, the South is more industrialized than it was 100 years ago. Can anyone say Coca-Cola or Texoco?
3. Slavery.
Revolutionary tension: First and foremost, all 13 colonies had slavery. Some founding fathers were repulsed by slave auctions and burdened by taking care of the servants while men in Britain get rich off the slave trade. But that didn't mean they were willing to free their slaves either. Americans believed slavery was pushed on them by the British government getting rich off the import duties of slaves.
After Revolutionary War: In the north, state by state emancipated its slaves and new immigrants supplied the cheap labor industry needed. Many compromises were made about extending slavery into new territories gained in the Louisiana Purchase and Mexican War. The Missouri Compromise kept slavery at the border of Missouri while Bleeding Kansas sought by popular vote if a new territory/state is slave or free.
Now, remember, white plantation owners were not the only ones who owned slaves, nor did the majority of people in the South owned slaves (10%). Indian tribes owned slaves in their territory in Oklahoma and those whites married into the tribes brought in slaves too. 2 tribes (Choctaw and Chickasaw) joined the Confederacy as 'First Battalion of Choctaw Indians' in Mississippi and also held a representative in the Confederate House of Representatives. Free Blacks also existed in the South prior to emancipation and some owned slaves as well, there was a large population of Free Blacks in New Orleans, LA and Charleston, SC. And to complete the thought, only the rich had slaves just like only the rich have servants who live in their house. I cannot imagine why lower class poor white men without shoes would march in a Confederate uniform and die to keep slavery. Slavery only became an issue when generals in the Union army taking over cities started setting the slaves free in areas they controlled. This was not universal. Plus the threat of Great Britain to join the Confederate side encouraged a political ploy from President Lincoln that all slaves in Federally held territories that rebelled against the Union be free (not the slaves in the border states). Later, at the end of the war, the push for full emancipation of slaves was made and gained. In the end, the South had to accept the end of slavery as a condition to reuniting with the Union where all Federal Laws supersede all state laws that suddenly got established. But that didn't mean they had to like it, hence Segregation and Lynching began that the Federal government didn't interfere with until the Supreme Court did in 1954 (Brown vs. Topeka, KS).
In conclusion, wiping away all evidence of a Confederacy that offends some, but admired by others doesn't erase it from history. Slavery happened and it ended for a reason. The Confederacy happened and ended for a reason.
