Archived Opinion

History has been altered by victors

To the Editor:

Mr. McLeod, instead of being upset over a Confederate flag flying in the South, perhaps you should actually be more upset about the following.

Slavery is not an exclusive club for blacks. Whites were slaves (not indentured servants) for a good 200 hundred years in America before blacks picked the first boll of cotton or planted or harvested tobacco. Why? Perhaps further research of the king’s records in the U.K. (or start with the state of Virginia) will explain why populating the colonies so quickly was important to the king. A hint for you: tax revenue for England?

If the Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence and wrote the U.S. Constitution for themselves and their descendents meant for the slaves in the southern states or northern states to be free, they would have freed them at this time. Why didn’t they ?

Why did all slaveships fly the flag of the United States? Why were the three largest ports for slaveships in 1860 in Philidelphia, New York City and Boston if this war was about slavery?

Why was the Morill Tarrif imposed on the South if the war was just about slavery? Why did the North pass the Corwin Amendment which would have allowed the seceding states to keep their slaves if they re-entered the Union and avoid war if the war was about slavery?

Lastly, why do public schools and colleges only teach half the truth today, that of the victors? This alone would make a thinking person suspicious and ask questions.

Billy E. Price

Ashville, Alabama

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