Reply To: Fly the flag of the Confederate States of America?

If the North had an agricultural based economy and the South had an industrial base, the war could have been fought inversely. The South’s economy was based on slavery, the North’s economy was based on cheap immigration labor for their factories and low paid servants. So yes, the war was based in slavery, but it was also based on the South fearing it would lose it’s economy with the stroke of a pen. It’s about the power and money, as always.

As freed slaves headed North and competed for employment, race riots erupted in many Northern cities. Freed slaves were murdered in the streets. The freed slaves that stayed south, most became share croppers, basically indentured servants, living in extreme poverty. The South was ravaged after the war and “reconstruction” was ditched way too early, even resulting in resentment and a slew of ignorant unemployed racists thugs, KKK members, and criminal gangs comprised of former soldiers. The average Southerner just put the musket down and went back to work.

Farming machinery would have replaced slaves within a few decades, so either way slavery was doomed economically. In any event, the South was idiotic in believing it could win such a war. If it wasn’t for the even more idiotic Northern generals, the war would have been over in a few months. Even if the South had won that war, the North would have probably reinvaded within a decade or two.

This comes down to what does the flag represent to most people, and I believe it has become a racist symbol over the decades. To many of us ( like me in the past ) it just represented regional pride, but just like the Native American symbol that is now known as the swastika, it should be retired now. In fact my fathers’ Korean war army outfit, the 45th infantry division wore the swastika up to the late 1930’s.