Essay On Confederate Flag

In my paper I will be discussing the Confederate Flag and its controversy in history and in todays views. The Confederate flag has been a negative symbol in American society since the 1800’s. It has been only recently that the Confederate flag has been brought back to life as a contemporary issue. In recent times the flag has been used as a motivation for racial strikes and other rebellious acts bring the issues of the flag and the controversy behind it back to life. The major questions I seek to answer in this essay it why the controversy of the Confederate flag only been brought back up recently and why the confederate flag was created the way it was. And the overall motivation behind its creation. The Confederate flag has only recently been brought back as an issue because of the recent racial attacks and an overall rebellious acts that swear under the confederate flag, back in the early 1860’s the confederate flag was first used to represent the southern states because the south was wanting to secede from the northern states. Because of the major shooting in Charleston controversy behind the confederate flag sparked back up. Major retailers like Walmart and Amazon and stopping the sale of the Confederate flag because of its growing symbol of racism. The Confederate flag has shifted from being viewed as the southern states to viewed as a symbol of racism. what does the future hold for the confederate flag and will it become a rare item?

In the past couple of year, there has been a controversial battle over the flying of the Confederate Flag on government buildings. The controversy has really started to stir up in the southern states such as South Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia. On January 30, 2001, the state of Georgia changed its flag, removing the large Confederate battle cross from the 1956 design and replacing it with the state seal of Georgia. Now, the state of Mississippi is the only state that fearlessly displays the Southern Cross in its state flag. Though several Southerners see the Confederate Flag as a symbol of southern pride and heritage, many others see the flag as a dishonorable reminder of slavery and segregation in the south. Although this flag is under great controversy in the southern states, there is no reason why this flag should not be flown from government buildings because it isn’t demoralizing African Americans in the symbolization of slavery, segregation and domination although it is used by many hate groups across the united states they too need a history lesson because the confederate flag only started as a battle flag that some blacks fought under and held with pride.

Within the United States of America, arguments, involving the Confederate Flag, are solved every sngle day. However, some controversies have managed to carry on from the 1800’s until present day without any solution. The text and symbolic meaning behind the “Confederate Flag” is a perfect example. The Confederate Flag is one of America’s most embattled symbolic controversies. Created in 1861in a battle between the South, Confederates, and the North, Union, two men by the name P.G.T. Beauregard and Congressman William P. Miles designed and created a flag that would represent the true southern pride and demands that would not only bring about conflict with one half of the nation but also with our American society today.

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.

Within 12 minutes of union tugs firing upon the Virginia with no effect but to dent her armor the Virginia head on rammed the sloop-of-war USS Cumberland below the water line. 150 men died aboard the Cumberland as the crew continued to fire upon the Virginia until the last cannon sunk below water. The Cumberland then turned her attention immediately to the USS Congress that had been firing upon it from behind. Seeing what had accorded to the Cumberland the captain of the Congress, Lieutenant Joseph Smith, in a last resort grounded his ship in shallow water where the Virginia could not ram them. Yet, under fire from the shell shot of the Virginia that could shed through wooden ships, the Congress surrounded within the hour badly damaged. Seeing two of the Union’s prime ships taken down in only two hours a Union battery on a Northern peninsula of Hampton Roads opened fire on the Virginia in an attempt to cripple her and save the remaining union ships that had mistakenly run aground during maneuvers in the battle. In response the Virginia fired burning cannon balls into the Congress setting her ablaze and eventually reaching her magazine where she exploded. 110 of the Congress crew died from the attack. By the end of the day the Virginia had lost two guns, two sailors and had several iron plates had loosened while she had been responsible for 400 deaths and the loss of two war ships.

“Symbol of a brave past or banner of treason?” Kevin Baker asks this in his article titled That Flag. This is the question that many people have tried to answer. The Confederate Battle Flag has been used to send many different messages to the public, and depending on who you talk to it holds different meanings. As explained in the article titled Political culture, religion, and the Confederate Battle Flag debate in Alabama written by Jonathan I. Leib and Gerald R. Webster. The article explains that, “Many traditional white southerners view the Confederate Battle Flag as emblematic of the sense of duty and sacrifice of their ancestors during the Civil War and Reconstruction. They argue that the Civil War was not about the institution of slavery

The confederate flag, one of the most controversial image of the American culture, was adopted on May 1, 1863, which was percipated by the issue of slavery. It was initially adopted as the battle flag by the army of Northern Virginia. And, even though it was never officially

During the end of 1861 the Confederate battle emblem had become increasingly common on Civil War battlefields. Although, it is important to note that the battle flag was never the official flag of the CSA (Webster and Leib). The flag that finally represented the Confederacy on land and sea was the national flag and it was this flag which the people of Civil War days as well as later knew. While creating the flag everyone in the south wanted a say in what the flag was going to look like. The widespread feeling, was to have the flag look very similar to the stars and stripes flag of the union but different (Coulter). The committee that created the Confederate flag came to the decision that the flag would be called “Stars and Bars”. The flag was described as “shall consist of a red field with a white space extending horizontally through the center, and equal in width to one-third the width of the flag. The red space above and below to be of the same width as the white. The union blue extending down through the white space and stopping at the lower red space. In the center of the union a circle of white stars corresponding in number with the States in the Confederacy” (Coulter). Growing up in the south I can personally say I agree with Coulter that the Battle flag is the more commonly known. The supporting side believes that the flag is

The Confederate Flag’s meaning can be viewed in many different ways, in fact it already is. The flag has a lot of meaning behind it. Take the design for instance, a lot of the design portrays a lot of the flags meaning. If you take away all the color of the flag and just look at what is left. “There are 13 stars on the flag; these stars represent the 13 original colonies for when the U.S first began. Each one of these colonies had its own system of self government, until the start of the northern aggression. When the northern states began trying to swipe authority over the southern states which this was the main cause of the Civil War in 1861. The blue side ways X is actually lying on top of the stars and the stars are shining though it. The blue X is lying on the stars showing that the southern states no longer want to be a part of the Union.” (Coski, page 20) So basically, the flags message is to cross us out of the Union (us being the South). In my opinion, the rumors made up about the Confederate Flag were most assuredly made by the Northerners to get rid of the South’s flag. I also feel the Southerners should stand strong in keeping their heritage and legacy for their children. The Confederate Flag is something to be proud of as a Southern.

This flag has been explained in many different ways, and people’s opinions are not always satisfying. America’s southern states seceded

Despite popular belief the Confederate flag we know today was not the flag of the Confederacy during the civil war. There were quite a few flags before the “stars and bars” we know of today. The flag we see today was originally the battle flag of the Northern Virginia army, led by General Robert E. Lee. Before adopting the stars and bars as the official flag, the Confederacy used a flag with seven stars and three red and white stripes. Once the number of states in the Confederacy increased to thirteen and they used the same design with thirteen stars. As the war was coming to a close, the Virginia battle flag became more popular. The flag was added to a white and red flag but some thought that looked too much like a white flag of surrender so the leaders decided to take out the white and red stripes and white background, and simply made the flag the “stars and bars” we know of today. (AHO, Web.

President Trump took to Twitter back in August to proclaim his dissatisfaction with the country. The topic was the removal of Confederate statues. He claimed that they are “beautiful monuments to our history and culture.” Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that he was wrong. The fact that president trump is blatantly endorsing a horribly racist part of our nation's history shows a lot about him as not only a person but as a president. Confederate statues and monuments need to be removed all throughout the USA because they are strongly linked to racism. People may argue that the flag and monuments aren’t about racism because “that isn’t what the war was about”

The ironclad CSS Virginia began a naval engagement on the Union fleet. On March 8, the battle lasted throughout the day. This engagement was part of a Confederate effort to break the Union blockade of the Southern ports. Unfortunately, the USS Monitor did not arrive in Hampton Roads until later at night, too late to preserve many of the Union ships from destruction.

The Battle of Hampton Roads, otherwise known as Monitor versus Merrimac, was the first engagement of two ironclad ships in battle. On March 8, 1862, the Merrimac, now christened the CSS Virginia, sunk two Union ships in addition to grounding another in an effort to prevent the Union from blockading southern ports. On March 9, the more significant battle began when the Confederate Virginia fired on the Union’s Minnesota. The Virginia then met its northern ironclad counterpart, the Monitor, at the mouth of the James River. The Virginia and the Monitor fired upon one another, though the incompetence of the crews rendered the shots ineffective. The volley continued for some time, causing people to flock to the shore, the docks, or nearby vessels in an effort to watch the action. Eventually, the Virginia had a successful shot at the Monitor, hitting the Monitor’s iron pilothouse. When the Monitor’s pilothouse was hit, iron shards flew everywhere and got into Commander Lieutenant John Worden’s eyes. This caused the Monitor to sheer off course and move into shallow water. The Virginia posed to attack the Minnesota, after deducing that the Monitor was out of commision at this point in time. Before attacking, the Virginia’s officers reported a leak in the bow, depleted ammunition, and that the steam powered engine was having trouble keeping pace. The battle ended in a draw as the Virginia headed back to its naval yard for repairs. The battle showed that in the future, all wooden ships and vessels would be obsolete in comparison to the ironclads that would soon became the new naval fighting

personal liberties shall be protected as long as they do not cause reasonable harm to another individual. It is incredibly difficult and unjust to promote a system to which state authority prevents speech that they find offensive. It is nearly impossible and impractical for a state entity to understand what can and can’t be considered offensive, and what is offensive to some and not to others. That is why the harm principle is a great principle to understand the limits of how far free speech should and can go. Free speech should be protected and promoted so long as it does not create credible harm to another persons individual liberties. Credible and reasonable harm should thus be defined as harm that occurs to ones idnivual liberties including: life, liberty, and property. For example Looking at the confederate flag, one can see the conflict of harm versus free speech it imposes. The idea of the original confederate flag did stand as symbol of racism and pro-slavery. The confederate flag was in its due time flown as a symbol of war and a threat against those who do not stand by the principles of the confederation. During the civil war the confederate flag could very legitimately be seen as a harmful form of free speech. However in present day, the confederate flag, for the most part does not carry the same meaning or same threat. Many people, who express themselves through the confederate flag as a symbol, do so as a form of showing southern pride or southern heritage.