Confronting myths about causes of the Civil War

[struggle4progress]

BY EMMA BACCELLIERI AND SAMANTHA EHLINGER
McClatchy Washington Bureau

... With hostility growing toward Confederate symbols, the annual general convention of the Children of the Confederacy, being held this weekend in Lynchburg, Va., would seem to offer an opportunity for those who revere Confederate history to defend their devotion as a matter of “heritage, not hate.”

But with the exception of three attendees who like Shelby and her grandfather, Martin Schaller, agreed to interviews, it was hard to learn what the Children of the Confederacy conference teaches its members about the history of slavery and the role it played in sparking the Civil War.

Conference organizers declined to share conference materials with anyone not registered for the conference. They said members of the organization could not speak to the news media without approval from the organization’s director general, who could not be located Thursday, the convention’s opening day.

Eventually, the general manager of the hotel where the convention is being held through Saturday ordered two McClatchy reporters to leave.

The impasse was perhaps predictable. More than 10 phone calls throughout the week leading up to the conference, and several emails to the organization’s director general, went unreturned ...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article27527029.html

[daybranch]

1. Just to be clear , Slave-owners were evil.

The reason for the Civil War was that very wealthy slave-owners eagerly conscripted and sacrificed poor people to try to maintain the luxurious lives and political power they had.
The Greed of the already rich and those that wanted much more wealth has been a constant oppressor since before we were even a country of our own. The revolution served the benefit of a rich class, including Jefferson, Washington etc. transferring great amounts of property to them from those who would support King George. The deference to these white founding fathers resulted in constitution where only the rich had political and economic power. For the greedy rich class to hold onto and expand their wealth, they had to maintain slavery of the black man, indentured servitude of the poor whites as well as murder the indians.
Our ancestors were sacrificed on the altar of that greed. It does not matter which side of a conflict we are on, the poor class loses their lives, their limbs, often their home. But heck today, so many tell us welcome home and thank you for your service. If we really want to address the inequities of our system, racism, early death, conscription of the poor whether by law or economic deprivation, we have to know that a wealthy class has misused us and killed our ancestors for their own monetary gain. If the sons or daughters of the Confederacy as well as the Sons or Daughters of the Revolution can see this, much of the justification of southern heritage and much of the Tea Party bull will disappear. But first, we must acknowledge our own weakness and admit we as soldiers are the pawns of the rich. Quoting from a revolutionary war soldier- the Generals get richer and Privates die.