One Man’s Reply
 
From: cliftonpalmermclendon@yahoo.com
 
Mailbag: Time for new mascot
Albany Democrat Herald
http://www.democratherald.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_b79662e0-be28-11e0-9192-001cc4c002e0.html
 
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.
 
The War was caused by the United States invading the Confederate States to force them back under the government they had rejected — the same as the British attempted to force the thirteen States back into the British Empire, Spaniards attempted to force Mexico back into the Spanish Empire, and Mexicans attempted to force Texas back under the Mexican government.
 
If you are going to object to a Rebel mascot, you must also object to the New England Patriots’ mascot, or be guilty of dealing from a double standard, because the patriots of 1776 fought for the same reason as the Rebels of 1861: The right to live under a government of their choosing rather than having a government crammed down their throats.
 
Clifton Palmer McLendon
Upshur County, Texas