Confederate economy relied on slavery

In response to the letter, “I fly battle flag,” by Mike Rhodes (July 2): He describes his great-grandfather’s death as a Confederate soldier in the battle of Shiloh. As Mr. Rhodes relates the events, it seems that his great-grandfather fought bravely and died a horrendous death. That is a terrible waste of life repeated uncountable times in the American Civil War.

Mr. Rhodes described his great grandfather as a poor farmer with a family.

Sadly, his great-grandfather and many more poor farmers in the South, including some of my ancestors, suffered and died for the purpose of preserving and expanding the scourge of slavery for the benefit of wealthy landowners and planters. There was no other issue that can be blamed for the armed insurrection instigated in South Carolina in 1861.

There have been many attempts to downplay the issue of slavery and instead attribute the rebellion to tariffs, taxes and the good old “states rights” whine. The only rights that the states of the Confederacy were willing to send poor people to die for was the right to own other human beings as property.

The economy of the Confederacy was built on slavery.

This story was originally published July 13, 2015 at 8:36 AM with the headline "Confederate economy relied on slavery."