The Confederate Battle Flag: Heritage or Hate Essay

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English 102
September 12, 2012
The Confederate Battle Flag: Heritage or Hate The Confederate Battle flag is one of the most recognized symbols in the United States. It is not always a welcome symbol in today’s society. Take for instance the state of South Carolina having to remove it from its statehouse on April 12, 2000. The reason it is not always welcome is because people often misinterpret its true meaning. It is not a symbol of hatred but, a symbol of southern pride and honor. The pride and honor of all the men and women who carried it the flag into battle fighting for what they believed in, Southern independence. The reason that people think that the Confederate flag is a racist symbol is
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They also believed that the states had the right to govern themselves and nullify or reject any Federal Government laws. They also believe that each state had the right to break away from the United States and form their own independent country if they choose to do so. The northern government states governments were completely against this idea because they felt as if those states left the Union it would weaken the United States. After many years of unfair treatment the south had had enough. They begin seceding from on Dec. 20 1860. South Carolina was the first to secede from the Union. Over the next six months ten more states would follow: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and then Tennessee. These eleven were fed up with the Federal Government and were ready to fight for their independence. In the book Brothers in Arms, Lieutenant Edward Porter Alexander of Georgia said this on his decision to join the Southern Confederacy. “A crisis in my life [is] at hand. My people are going to war, and war for their liberty. If I don’t come to bare my part they will believe me a coward, and I will feel that I am occupying the position of one. I must go and stand my chances.” (Davis) There were four slave states that did not join the Confederacy: Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware. Missouri and Kentucky were both states torn by the war. Both of the states’ Governments voted to stay with the Union, but in July of