Confederate soldiers not traitors

Our Declaration of Independence justified our secession from England and the war that followed with the “self-evident truth” that governments derive their power to govern from the consent of the people. By 1776, the American colonies no longer consented to English government. From our point of view, George Washington was not a slave-owning English traitor. He was an American patriot.

In 1836, Texas seceded from Mexico. Texans no longer consented to Mexican government. America and, ironically, Abe Lincoln, approved of the secession of Texas. We do not remember Texans as Mexican traitors who fought a war to establish the slave-owning Republic of Texas. We honor them as heroes when we “Remember the Alamo.”

In 1861, the Confederate States of America seceded from the United States of America. The CSA no longer consented to be governed by the United States. But the “self-evident” truth that created a slave-owning U.S. was forcibly denied to the slave-owning CSA.

The soldiers who served the CSA were no different than the soldiers who served Washington. They fought for the independence of their country. We can condemn their cause, but they were not traitors.

Rob Robinson

Hayden