‘War Between the States’ was not a ‘civil war’
Monday’s Voice of the People by Mr. Bob Altman caught my attention. I’m with him on most of his points. A “new”/”old” Mississippi flag would not hurt my feelings one little bit. However, I also believe that it would not make a condemned bit of difference to those who hate Mississippi. For my money, change it and then shut the hell up about it.
My difference with Mr. Altman’s letter is this: “It (the flag) stood for the armed overthrow of the United States.”
The War Between the States was NOT a “civil war” as Lincoln described it. Besides being an oxymoron, a “civil war” is a conflict in which a group of people, called “rebels,” rise up and rebel against the existing government with intentions to overthrow it and either replace it with a new form of government (think American Revolution “four score and seven” years earlier) or just replace the people in power with new people but keep the same form of government.
Neither was the intent of the Confederacy.
The South wanted to break away and form a new country (again think American Revolution).
Gen. Lee did try to capture Washington a couple of times, but failed. His intent was not to overthrow the U.S. government, but to capture the city and leaders so the South could sue for peace.
Another point: When anybody, politicians included, swears an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, nobody is ever released from that oath.
Politicians and others (military) who take that oath are bound by their word of honor. Unfortunately honor seems to be in short supply among a lot of politicians now-a-days.
Obama should have been impeached on charges of treason, but Congress lacked the spine to indict and he surely would have been never convicted by a rubber-stamp Senate. That’s another story for later.
My vote is for the Bonnie Blue flag. Perhaps Mr. Rufus Ward could give us a lesson on all flags that have flown over Mississippi in our history from early explorations to today.
Cameron Triplett
Brooksville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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