Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Michael T. Griffith

2004

@All Rights Reserved

Some people think it is unpatriotic or divisive to defend the Southern side of the Civil War.  As a retired U.S. Army veteran and a flag-waving patriot, I reject that view.  Confederate citizens were Americans too.  They were citizens of the “Confederate States of America.”  Their heroes included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, Davy Crockett, and Andrew Jackson.  The official Confederate seal featured the image of George Washington on his horse.  The Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, was a former U.S. Army officer, a genuine hero in the Mexican War, an outstanding U.S. secretary of war, and a highly respected member of the U.S. Senate.  Dozens of other Confederate officials had likewise served faithfully in the U.S. government.  One of the members of the Confederate Congress was former U.S. president John Tyler.

It is time for the demonization and smearing of the Confederacy to stop.  Compared with other nations of its day, the Confederacy was one of the most democratic countries in the world.  Even during the war, the Confederacy held elections and had a vibrant free press.  In fact, on balance, the Confederacy was more democratic than some nations in our day.  Confederate citizens enjoyed every right that we now enjoy, if not more.  The Confederacy sought peace with the federal government and only fought because it was invaded.  The Confederate Constitution was patterned after the U.S. Constitution and contained improvements that even some Northern commentators acknowledged were praiseworthy.

Yes, the Confederacy permitted slavery, but it left the door open for the admission of free states and for the abolition of slavery at the state level.  Let’s keep in mind, too, that the American colonies permitted slavery for decades, that the United States permitted slavery for over half a century, that several Northern states made huge fortunes from the slave trade, and that many of our founding fathers were slaveholders, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Madison, John Rutledge, George Mason, and Benjamin Franklin.  Let’s also keep in mind that most Confederate citizens did not own slaves, and that by 1864 key Confederate leaders were prepared to abolish slavery.