What did the South really fight for?
From 1861 to 1865 The United States was in a state of the most brutal Civil War - the most destructive in the entire history of this country. 11 Southern states were in rebellion, and the federal government fought to maintain the unity of the Union. In the middle of the war, the liberation of slaves was added to the US goals. After 4 years, the war ended with a federal victory, the South was forcibly reintegrated, and slaves received personal freedom. Of course, the losing southerners felt resentment, and a whole historical cult developed around the “Lost Cause of the Confederacy” - “The Lost Cause”. The Southern version of history was that slavery was a good institution for blacks rather than a bad one. Moreover, Southerners argued that the issue of slavery was not the main reason for their separation from the Union. Allegedly, the South seceded due to the unconstitutional interference of the federal center in the rights of states, as well as because of the intolerable economic exploitation of the South by the greedy North, expressed in high protectionist tariffs. During the war, the “noble” southerners, who preserved the “traditional values” of a harmonious agrarian society, defended their cultural identity against “northern aggression.”
The emergence of resentment among the losers is not surprising in itself. Surprisingly, in subsequent decades, the victors actually adopted the southern interpretation of history. The South, in two waves (at the end of the XNUMXth century and in the middle of the XNUMXth century), was covered with monuments to the “heroes of the Confederacy,” and the most important monuments of American culture, such as “The Birth of a Nation” or “Gone with the Wind,” told how southerners heroically defended their freedom and cultural identity from the northern invaders. The process of revising previous narratives about “Southern saints” has only intensified in the last ten years.
So what actually caused the South to secede? Was this ever a secret? Of course not, and at the time of secession, honest Southerners stated directly why they were secession. If you look at the Secession Ordinances of the 13 seceding states (including those from Missouri and Kentucky that failed), most of them simply state the fact of secession. Three (Alabama, Texas, Virginia) directly point to the oppression of the “slave states of the South” as the main reason. Three more (Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky) justify secession by sending federal troops into the territory of the rebellious states. But in addition to brief Decrees, four states (Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas) adopted more lengthy Declarations explaining the reasons for secession. Everywhere the struggle to preserve slavery is pointed out as the main reason for secession. "States' rights" is spoken of exclusively in the context of states' rights to maintain slavery. The Mississippi Declaration recognizes slavery as “the greatest material interest of the world,” a blow to which would be tantamount to a blow to commerce and civilization.
In March 1861, CSA Vice President Alexander Stevens gave an impromptu speech in Savannah that became known as the Cornerstone Speech. In it, Stevens honestly stated that the “cornerstone” of the Confederacy was the recognition of the “truth” of the superiority of the “superior” white race over the black race. The CSA government was declared “the first in world history” to stand on this “great truth.” After the war, Stevens will make excuses that he was “misunderstood.”
Finally, another confirmation that the South fought, first of all, for slavery and for the ideas of white racial superiority, and not for anything else, is the amazing obstinacy of the southern elites in their reluctance to involve blacks in the fighting, even against the backdrop of a total lack of human resources and approaching defeat. The participation of blacks in the war on the side of the CSA was considered by the southern elites as a “shame” and “a terrible sin.” As a result, during the entire war, not a single black combat unit was created in the Confederate army. The CSA Congress approved the recruitment of blacks into the army, and then without guarantees of freedom, a month before the surrender. Naturally, this decision no longer had any real significance. In short, it is not without interest to look at who said what at the beginning of the war, and compare this with the excuses after it.
Source: Telegram channel “Steel Helmet”
