Moonrise.org: Confederate Battle Flag

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Confederate Battle Flag

Content Created: February 8, 2000 / Updated: January 31, 2002

Note: The original version of this page called the Confederate battle flag the "Stars and Bars". (See here for more information.) This is of course not correct. I have corrected the mistake.

This is quite a divisive issue, and I have read a number of things about it. Now, I am not a resident of the South, so I do not have a large stake in the results, but I do have a stake, as I am a US citizen.

Georgia flag, 1956 to January 2001

Georgia flag, January 2001 to present

Georgia Flags courtesy of the World Flags Database

Let me up front state that my bias in the matter of the Civil War is strongly toward the North. I know of two ancestors of mine that fought in the war, both on the side of the North; as far as I know, all of my ancestors (who are of European descent) have lived in what was on the side of the North in the war. Also, I do not feel that the Southern states were within their rights in seceding from the Union. And finally, the biggie: human slavery disgusts me on a fundamental moral level.

So, the question is: should the battle flag be flown over the South Carolina capitol? And should it be part of the Georgia state flag, which was flown over the Super Bowl in 2000, but suspiciously was not flown over the Atlanta Olympics?

The simple answer is: sure, it's just a piece of cloth. It's only a symbol. The South is not rising again and bombing Washington DC because the flag flies. Humans are not being rounded up and sold as slaves because the Confederate Flag flaps over the South Carolina State Capitol.

But those who choose to let it fly show a basic insensitivity to what it truly means. To many, it is a symbol of their ancestors being held as slaves. It is inseperable from that. Many people proudly fly it as part of their heritage, as their ancestors bravely and honorably fought under that flag. They point out that the Civil War was fought over other issues besides slavery (mainly States' Rights), that their exact ancestors never owned slaves.

Wars never start for a single cause, and the US's Civil War certainly had its share. But much of the tensions that led up to it were based in the fact that the economy of the South at the time was strongly based in slavery, whether or not everyone owned slaves. Most of the leaders of the rebellion undoubtedly were rich plantation owners who owned slaves. While the continuance of slavery may not have been at the top of everyone's list, it was certainly close.

It is often pointed out that many of the US's Founding Fathers owned slaves, in fact some theorize that Thomas Jefferson had the temerity to keep at least one of his children (by one of his slaves) as a slave. Yes, this shames me. It shames me that the original Constitution includes the "Three-Fifths Compromise", in which a slave is counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of both taxes and Congressional representatives. I am glad that the Thirteenth Amendment made that moot.

Yes, while the Confederate States of America had other reasons to exist, it is forever tainted with slavery.

And this brings me to my other point, one that I have not seen mentioned before. Flying the Confederate flag in an official position (the top of the South Carolina state capitol) is nigh unto treason. The CSA carved out a large part of the United States, illegally, and levied war against the US. (It was the CSA that fired the first shots, against Fort Sumter in April, 1861.) The CSA would not have existed had it not stolen large parts of the US. And the Constitution defines treason like this: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." While the people flying the flag certainly aren't committing treason by doing it, they are commemorating the greatest collective act of treason in US history. And that is troubling.

(Carolinans concerned with their heritage should fly a British flag over the Capitol as well, as South Carolina was part of Great Britain before it was part of the CSA or USA. It makes as much sense. Neither the Confederate battle flag nor the Union Jack have a place in a United States government installation, as they symbolize foreign nations. Since this is a free country, private entities have the right to fly foreign flags, but it makes no sense for public installations.)

Us here in the North have a heritage as well, but we don't use treasonous symbols to commemorate it. Yes, I don't normally get uptight about the Confederate flag, as it's only a symbol (and the Civil War was more than 130 years ago), but I am worried about the mindset of the people flying it. There's potential trouble brewing there.