This was submitted on March 28, 2005 in response to yet another misrepresentation of Confederate History. It appeared in the April 1st Richmond Times Dispatch

March 28, 2005

Dear Sir:

I write to you today with a sense of frustration and disappointment. In today’s edition of the Times-Dispatch your column, “Not Again” laments the fact that there are those who wish to celebrate their Confederate heritage. You also state that, “…slavery was the most important factor leading to the Civil War”.

It is no wonder that so many American’s today remain ignorant of their own nation’s history when the sources from which they glean information remain ignorant of historical facts? The constraints of space limit my ability to fully educate you and your readers on this matter, but I will attempt a brief lesson.

Slavery was the main causation of the war? Secession was wrong and not allowed by the Constitution!? The words of the “Great Emancipator” himself, Abraham Lincoln, in a public letter to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley in 1862, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is neither to save nor destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing ANY slave I would do it…” Regarding his thoughts on secession, dated January 12, 1848, Abraham Lincoln stated, “Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better”.

The Confederate government was formed for the express purpose of continuing the import of slaves? Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Confederate States of America reads, “The importation of Negroes of the African race, from any foreign country, other than the slave holding States or Territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden, and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same”. Sounds like a nation that recognizes that slavery is on the way out. In contrast read Article 1, section 9 of the U.S. Constitution, which allows the continued importation of slaves.

The point being that if you or any of your readers were not aware of these salient facts then what else are you ignorant of regarding the War for Southern Independence? This simply illustrates the need for some sort of recognition of Confederate history as it really occurred. Not as revisionists see it.

Yours for the South,

Floyd C. Bayne