What Does The Confederate Flag Stand For?

Is the Confederate flag racist? That depends greatly on your point of view. A great many states, mine included, are considering whether or not to remove any semblance of Old Dixie from their state flags. I respect the rights of other states to do this, but I would fight it in mine.

Now I do not personally fly a rebel flag because I understand that some are offended by it and it doesn’t have enough personal meaning for me to make the offense worth it. But I do not think it is a symbol that needs to be disposed of lightly. The view of the Confederate symbol that I have gained over the years is that it is not a symbol of hate, racism, or even slavery. I have come to understand that, to many, it is a symbol of rebellion and defiance against a government that violates the rights of its citizens - a symbol of the American spirit.

Many people cite the Declarations of Secession of the various Confederate states to declare that the only issue they fought for was slavery. While some, like Mississippi, do contain egregious, even racist, comments on their ideals of slavery, not all were so immediately driven by the singular issue of slavery. The Declaration of Cessation from South Carolina grabbed my attention:

“The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A.D., 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union…They further solemnly declared that whenever any ‘form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government...Thus were established the two great principles asserted by the Colonies, namely: the right of a State to govern itself; and the right of a people to abolish a Government when it becomes destructive of the ends for which it was instituted.”

“We hold that the Government thus established is subject to the two great principles asserted in the Declaration of Independence...The ends for which the Constitution was framed are declared by itself to be ‘to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity...We affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive of them…We, therefore, the People of South Carolina, by our delegates in Convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved…”

Indeed slavery is mentioned, but the bulk of the declaration deals with the encroaching of the Federal government on the rights, albethem rights that should not have existed, of the individual states. You see, the states were given the right to create their own laws concerning slavery. They now feared those rights would be taken away by the very same Federal government that allowed them by force rather than diplomacy. When proper checks and balances are ignored and rights are threatened, war follows.

Was slavery wrong? Yes. Should it have ended? Yes. I do not advocate that it was ever a moral practice. But there is a due process for handling the issue of changing laws and that process was being threatened. In turn, the Southern states invoked their rights to defy the Union as they felt that their rights were challenged. 

I give you this short history to help you understand that while most of us were taught that the Confederacy was an evil organization of racists, that is not the whole story. While many of the Confederacy were wrong in their motivations, the Union was wrong in its handling of the very rights they had previously afforded to those same states. President Lincoln, though a personal hero of mine, refused to recognize the new Confederate nation. This, in my opinion, was wrong. 

The Confederates were American citizens who fought for their own right to secede. They did not seek war, but as tensions mounted, and the Union threatened their boarders, it became necessary. The Confederate flag became the symbol of what they considered a righteous rebellion against a tyrannical government. To most, it was not a symbol of racial superiority.

One could argue that they were on the wrong side of history. I would argue that it is not so simple. They were on the losing side, but the Civil War was a necessary war. One of the reasons Lincoln is a hero of mine is because of his handling of the Confederacy after the war. He treated them with grace and dignity. While the right to own slaves was gone, our nation grew into a peaceful nation.

  We have fought many more battles and learned many more important lessons over the next century and on. We are now engulfed in political and racial turmoil once again. I think it is very possible that another civil war could be on the horizon. I hope this is not the case, but if it is, I will raise a flag of righteous rebellion against whomever would impose upon my liberty and that of my countrymen.

The Confederate flag exists, for most who bear it, not as a racist coat of arms, but as a sign of rebellion against tyranny. For them, it means the same thing that the original stars and stripes meant for Americans during the Revolution - freedom. We ought to be careful in removing symbols, emblems, and memorials of the past, lest we forget why they existed and repeat the gory history of the 1860s.

I leave you with some of the opening words of the Declaration of Independence. If you think, like Joe Biden, that everyone knows, you know, the thing...it might do you some good to review it. 

“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, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”