Flag facts, questions
Dear editor:
Article V of the United States Constitution says, in part, “no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its suffrage in the Senate.” The phrase “without its Consent” logically implies that the opposite is true “with its consent.” Therefore, any state, with its consent, can withdraw from its suffrage in the Senate. “Secede” means “to withdraw formally from a group, organization, etc.” The Southern states succeeded in legal secession from
the USA for four years. I’m not posing a question there, I’m stating a fact.
The Confederate States of America was an agricultural region. They raised crops and used slaves to help in that endeavor. I have stated before that both Gen. Robert E. Lee and CSA President Jefferson Davis are reliably reported to be opposed to the practice of slavery. It is my opinion that slavery would have ended in the CSA as soon as machinery was developed to work the fields. And therein I have posed a question.
The CSA developed and deployed its official flag, called the Stars and Bars. This flag bore a startling resemblance to the official flag of the USA, called the Stars and Stripes. So much so that, on the battlefields of the (so-called) Civil War, troops would sometimes get confused and deaths were caused by “friendly fire.” The flag now commonly called the “Confederate battle flag” or the “Dixie flag” was developed by the Army of Northern Virginia and later deployed by all CSA forces. The intention was to save lives, and it no doubt succeeded to some extent, but in more recent times that flag has been used as a symbol of hate and death (as reported in the case in Texas where three white men chained a black man to the back of their pickup truck and dragged him to his death). I’m not posing any questions there, I’m stating facts.
The Confederate flag represented a group of states struggling against what they perceived as unfair practices by their central government, somewhat similar to what the colonists felt about King George of England. While the USA won their independence, the CSA failed in their effort. It was a noble effort, not an act of treason. The CSA had no intention of taking over the whole government of the USA, they just wanted to be free to run their own country in their own way. Now, that is my own opinion, and therein I am posing a question. M. Wayne Spencer Hot Springs