Johnny Reb or Yankee? Which are you?

a reply to: Metallicus

I foam at the mouth when discussing my libertarian political values. I am a staunch anti-federalist. But i would turn my back on both to stamp out slavery.

That should paint the picture for ya.

a reply to: FyreByrd
well, actually you couldn`t be more wrong.
The federal government collected almost all their money in the form of tariffs on imported and exported items.
In 1860, for example, the southern states provided %80 of the total federal income via tariffs on cotton and agricultural exports.
Almost all of that %80 stayed in the north,the south was providing %80 of the federal government budget and getting little back in return from the federal government.

after the southern states left and stopped providing that %80 of the federal governments income the government had to institute a payroll (income) tax.

In short the politicians felt that financially they couldn`t afford to let the south leave they had to keep the south in union at any cost or there would be no more union,that`s the real cause of the civil war,it was all about money.

I was born in Rhode Island......so that would make me a Yank.

But I was 3 months old when my father got transferred to Florida. Then I lived all over the US and then literally around the world before I joined the Navy myself.

Been here in the South since 1989.

I guess I'm Johnny Reb. Southern living is quite easy. I've got a lot of Yankee friends, most of whom seemed stressed out a lot, over things. I think "Bless yer hearts, you poor things." while telling them "Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's ALL small stuff."

Can my brother and I play?



HOSERS!!!!!!

a reply to: eriktheawful

I spent six years just outside of Atanta proper...though I hardly consider it "The South" since it is so diverse now, I really did love every year I spent there.

That said, I'm not buying a belt buckle with a red flag with a blue x filled with stars on it. I don't care what anyone wants to call it or what they all scream it means, it means SOMETHING to a lot of people since the 1950's...

a reply to: the owlbear

And NO WHERE in my post did I bring up the Rebel Flag. NO WHERE AT ALL.

Yet you felt such a need to bring it up, using my post.

Why? There is much more to the South than that flag.

I guess some people just can't understand that......

smh

a reply to: eriktheawful

Hey Erik,

I KNOW you're not like that.

I was trying to convey the love that I had for my experience in the Southlands but also try to say what kinda does still go on down there.
I apologize if it seems otherwise and feel free to take down my post altogether. It wasn't targeting you.

a reply to: the owlbear

My experience has generally been that the further you get from college campuses, no matter where in the country you are, the more intolerance you see in general.

originally posted by: Metallicus
but I am more interested if you believe the South had a right to secede? Are you a Johnny Reb or a Yank?

I absolutely believe in the right for a people to secede. To argue that, as Americans who "seceded" from another nation in order to exist, is totally hypocritical.

However, the Civil War was about much more. I would have supported the north. Not because I don't believe in the right to secession, but because I wouldn't want to allow that seceded nation to keep human beings against their will as slaves. It's not like the confederacy ever offered "Hey Yankies, would you let us secede if we freed our slaves?"

If the south wanted to secede now? I'd totally support them since every person living there would be allowed to leave if they like.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Hey BFFT!

I know...tolerance is something that can be innate or learned. Sometimes we have to learn it through the actions/inactions of our families and peers, yet sometimes it is innate to care for everyone. Rare but I've seen it.

originally posted by: ketsuko
One of my favorite mini-series was North and South along with The Blue and the Gray. Both dealt a bit with the war from perspective of family and friendship ties more than simply the historical perspective. It's those human issues along with the plethora of great generals that make the period so very interesting to me.

north and south was awesome. best mini series of all time.
i have the books by john jakes....you ever read any of them?
ory is not a main character in the first book. it is more about his older brother who is not in the movie at all.

so many characters in that show that i loved. both good and bad guys.

who was your favorite?
i dont know if i can pick one but bent has to be up there.
cousin charles was pretty cool.
of course justin was one of the best bad guys i think.

georges brother stanley was a little bitch.
ashton was amazing.

i highly recommend that anyone interested in the civil war watch this series.

when i was a kid i watched it for the first time. it introduced me to one of my fav historical figures....
john brown

Definitely a rebel in spirit.

I am very fortunate to have in my possession some journals and letters from that period of our history. Some are from my Beloved's family. They were in Atlanta. Seeing the approach of Sherman, they fled to the farm they owned just outside the city. The story of their flight is told by a twelve year-old girl in her journal. Her father's journal of that time has also been preserved.
They were in the midst of the action, knowing true terror when mortar shells fell on their home.

My family was on the Kentucky side of the Kentucky-Tennessee border living on the Tennessee river. My great-grandfather, his older brother and about two dozen other youth from the area enlisted in the Confederate army after Union soldiers came through and burned half the town and went through the countryside looting farmsteads that had no protection.
Those raids, which continued throughout the war, were the only combat most families in the area really knew but the battle of Fort Henry was close enough that their letters report hearing the sound of the shelling and being pressed into service of the Union army to help bury the dead from the battle.

Another great-grandfather joined the Rebels when the Union Army threatened to arrest his grandmother for making sure that her slaves and their children got the same education that her grandchildren were receiving. Her goal was to prepare them for freedom. General Grant's men burned the cabin she was using as a school for slaves and threatened to send a 67 year-old retired schoolteacher to a military prison.

I don't suppose there is any doubt about where my sympathies reside.

Those Union soldiers were picking on their own citizens. Kentucky never seceded from the Union.

a reply to: crazyewok

Well, to be fair, the Revolutionary War was technically the U.S. fighting against the U.S. as well, since we had already declared our independence, yet some of our citizens took up arms against the revolutionaries.

So, I guess we have technically had two as well...technically.

Sort of.

Meh.

Laz had ancestors who fought on both sides, including my great-grandfather who served on both sides. He left home in New Jersey, was in New Orleans when the war broke out, enlisted, and when New Orleans fell to the Yankees, he was given the choice (since he was from New Jersey) to go to prison as a POW or go west and fight Indians. He put on the blue and went west - a long story in itself.

Laz was raised in a part of Missouri once known as "Little Dixie," and recognizes that the Southern cause was right.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

That's probably more because people settle into where they live and they're not surrounded by such diversity.

I don't see the type of intolerance you are talking about being a bad thing--I see it as having found your way of life and don't mind people knowing it.

If a bunch of generic modern-day college kids moved in next to me at this point in my life (and I'm only 36), I'd be relatively intolerant, too. Hell, I was intolerant of college kids when I was in college, and I was a liberal weirdo back then.

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: crazyewok

Well, to be fair, the Revolutionary War was technically the U.S. fighting against the U.S. as well, since we had already declared our independence, yet some of our citizens took up arms against the revolutionaries.

So, I guess we have technically had two as well...technically.

Sort of.

Meh.

I know what you mean.

Some historians here view it as more as a civil war too as in theory it was Brits fighting Brits. Just your side won and formed a new country.

a reply to: crazyewok

But did we really win, or did you guys defeat yourselves?

Hmmm...

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: crazyewok

But did we really win, or did you guys defeat yourselves?

Hmmm...

God that's a difficult one.

In a way we did. We were our own worst enemy in that war.

To be honest the war was unpopular from the beginning and we really were half hearted in it. In fact a lot of our best officers resigned rather than fight. And when the French turned up? Well the rest they say is history....

a reply to: crazyewok

Yeah, kind of like us in the Middle East right now...except we shouldn't even be there at all.