Confederate Battle Flag
From: cwipaulk@earthlink.net
To: bpaxton@paducahky.gov
In response to the Mayor of Paducah, KY stating that the Confederate Battle Flag represents a people who fought to preserve slavery.
Dear Mr. Paxton,
Sir, unfortunately, you have chosen to swallow the Yankee rewritten history, or mythology. The South never fought for slavery. Below, I have some proof of that.
Corwin Amendment
To refute the oft-repeated lie that the War for Southern Independence (commonly but erroneously called "The Civil War") was fought over slavery, I need only mention the Corwin Amendment — proposed by Congressman Thomas Corwin of Ohio, passed by Congress 2 March 1861, and endorsed by Abraham Lincoln. That amendment read: "No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State."
If the seceded States had wished to perpetuate slavery, they had only to re-join the Union and ratify that amendment. They did not because they seceded to escape an overweening, all-intrusive big government, the same reason that thirteen States seceded from Britain in 1776, Mexico from Spain in 1818, and Texas from Mexico in 1836.
Clifton Palmer McLendon
Upshur County, Texas
Where is the logic? IF slavery was the cause of the War For Southern Independence, and IF the North fought to free the slaves, why then:
1. Was a 13th amendment presented in the U.S. Congress and signed by Lincoln in 1861 that would have prohibited the U.S. government from ever abolishing or interfering with slavery in any state? (Corwin Amendment, 2 March, 1861)
2. Was West Virginia allowed to accede to the union as a "Slave" state after 1863? (West Virginia was illegally and unconstitutionally formed)
3. Was slave labor used to build the Capitol building in Washington D.C.?
4. Was the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, applicable only in areas not under the control of the Union? (The Emancipation Proclamation freed not one solitary person, but was a war measure meant to cause a slave uprising, which did not happen)
5. Was Union Gen. Fremont’s order emancipating slaves in Missouri countermanded by Lincoln and the slaves sent back to their masters?
6. Why did New Jersey uphold its "Lifetime apprentices" rule until 1866?
7. Why were there four slave states in the union (Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri) during the War For Southern Independence?
8. Was there a U.S. Resolution stating that the war had nothing to do with slavery? (July 22, 1861) On July 22, 1861, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution stating the purpose of the war: “Resolved…That this war is not being prosecuted on our part in any spirit of oppression, not for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those states, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.” This is further proof that the war was NOT fought over slavery. The North did, however, conquer and subjugate the South, and the war they initiated and waged against the South was both unconstitutional and treasonous. It was fought to force the legally seceded South back into the union for the purpose of continuing the collection of excessive tariffs, which economically damaged the South, but was of economical benefit to the northern industrialists. Sir, this shoots the Yankee claim of the war being about slavery out of the water. Our history was rewritten during "Reconstruction” to brainwash all the Southern boys and girls, and it has done a tremendous job of doing so for 150 years. Read some true history to educate yourself. The Confederate Battle Flag never did, and never will, represent a people fighting for slavery. It represents a people fighting for independence from an overreaching, all-powerful government intruding into every area of private life. Of course, it has become "politically correct" to bash and slander Southern Heritage and culture, but the same slander and genocide would not be tolerated in any other area of the country on any other people, but because it is perpetrated against the South, it is accepted. I cannot stand by and allow such charges to go unanswered out of duty, and respect for those who fought and died defending the South from Lincoln’s illegal invasion. It is up to those of us who know the truth to do our best to enlighten those who do not.
Jeff Paulk
Tulsa, OK
