This was my response to a comment on another forum supporting the tearing-down of ‘Confederate’ statues…

I must admit that I have Never made a ‘concerted’ effort to study the Civil War… anymore than I have the Revolutionary War, the Indian Wars, the War of 1812, the ‘World’ Wars, or any of the vast multitudes of ‘wars’ and/or ‘conflicts’ that this country has been involved in. What I mean by that is that I imagine I have read, proportionately, a similar number of books and articles, seen a similar number of documentaries, etc., and been to a similar number of museums, battlefields (as they exist), etc. for each of them!

However, having grown-up and lived in Illinois (During a time when one could be Proud of having done so! ☹ ), with the majority of my adult years in Morgan County (where Lincoln came [to MacMurray Collage] to visit his ‘want-to-be’ girlfriend and spent time in the courthouse practicing law), I learned a Great deal about Abraham Lincoln!! I Have studied… and Written!… much about New Salem and his days there, toured his home, law offices, and tomb Multiple times, as well as often noting and visiting many of the other Illinois sites ‘associated’ with him, such as Galesburg, Alton, Edwardsville, and Vandalia. And I DO know that one cannot make an in-depth study of Lincoln without Also learning about the Civil War!?!

As a teenager and young adult, I often took ‘offense’ at the ‘rebel’ flags that would occasionally appear on a car-or-pickup in the high-school parking lot or driving down the road. My ‘offense’ was pretty-much the same reaction I had to ‘long-hairs’ and ‘hippies’… At that age, at that time-in-my-life, I considered All of it as being ‘Anti-American’… at least it was ‘anti-American’ to the ‘America’ I ‘saw’ at that time! But as the years went by, I came to realize the ‘incorrectness’ of many of my adolescent views and came to adjust them as needed.

The ‘War Between the States’ was fought over whether-or-not State’s rights overrode Federal law or not. Until that time, each state considered themselves an autonomous unit, bowing only to the Federal’s ‘rights’ as allowed specifically in the Constitution… that is, concerning such things that Required inter-or intra-state commerce, such as banking, mail delivery, etc. Each state still considered Their own government as controlling Their own concerns! Lincoln and others saw that for the country to grow AS a ‘nation’, a central government was necessary. Yes, the ‘catalyst’ was the slavery issue… but it was Not until mid-way through the conflict that Lincoln realized he was losing support of a number of the northern states and needed to ‘Rally’ them around a ‘Just’ cause to salvage the situation.

The notion that southerners were All ‘evil’ because they fought to ‘preserve’ slavery as an institution is Not correct! They fought to preserve what they perceived was their right as a free-state to govern themselves!?! I may, well, disagree with what I might think their intent in using that freedom was… but I Have to support their right to fight For that freedom!

I am Glad that the north won! I am happy that ‘these’ United States became ‘THE United States’!! But to condemn ANY person’s ‘history’ as being ‘improper’ is as unjust and Far More improper than Any supposed memory might be… ESPECIALLY when that ‘memory’ has been manufactured and programmed into individuals to serve the needs of the ‘state’!! (In this instance, the ‘state’ refers to any form of ‘power’ bent on coercing or controlling ‘subjects’ to ‘believe’ and/or ‘follow-a-course-of-action’ as determined by the ‘state’…)

ANY destruction of history, for ANY reason, is a bad thing… but to do so under the ‘direction’ of a ‘political agenda’ is Dangerous and just flat Wrong!?!