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“Was the Civil War fought over slavery?”: Here’s the video to show idiots who... The next time an annoying friend or relative attempts to argue that the Civil War was fought over anything other than slavery, here’s the definitive response delivered by Colonel Ty Seidule, a Professor of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point: Was the Civil War About Slavery? New Video! "Was the Civil War About Slavery? "What caused the Civil War? Did the North care about abolishing slavery? Did the South secede because of slavery? The Southernization Of America, As Shown In 12 Maps. Still think the North won the Civil War? Then how do you explain the slow-but-sure Southernization of America? While we were busy patting ourselves on the back for being the most wealthy and free nation in the world, the Old South took over the GOP and began forcing its values and beliefs back onto the rest of us.

And of course, the Old South’s “values and beliefs” all exist to serve a slave economy that fattens the few while starving the many. In Harold Meyerson’s brilliant piece on the Southernization of America for the American Prospect, he explains why we’re still stuck fighting the Civil War. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is slowly-but-surely rolling back all the gains made by women, people of color and workers during the 20th century. And really, there’s nothing new about the unholy alliance between the old Southern elite and the Northern bankers, tycoons, and captains of industry who profit from their slave labor-based economic development model. In a hurry? Comments comments. Civil_war_historical_markers_a_map_of_confederate_monuments_and_union_ones. Photo by Robert Swanson via Wikimedia Civil War Memorials For the full interactive version of this map, access this page on a larger device. Click on any state to zoom in. Then, click on a marker for more information. The recent debate over the meaning of the Confederate flag has launched a broader discussion about how we commemorate the Civil War.

As Jamelle Bouie wrote in Slate earlier this week, the flag is only the most visible emblem of the Confederate cause. There is no comprehensive catalogue of all of America’s Confederate memorials. The problem with the Historical Marker Database is that it catalogs both Confederate and Union markers, and there’s no easy way to separate the two, at least algorithmically. Once the animation concludes, click on any state to zoom in and begin exploring the markers on your own.

Enroll now in a different kind of summer school. Honor the Brave. Abraham Lincoln 'Plotted' to 'Force the South' to Fire the First Shot at Fort... Oh boy. Stogie at Saberpoint might as well be a 9/11 truther, considering these outlandish blood libels he's spewing against Abraham Lincoln. Now this is just downright bizarre, from the comments at Mediaite, "Memphis Mayor Wants to Literally Dig Up Confederate General and Move Him": jim rmiers1 • an hour agoVery few people joined up to fight for the union to end slavery.

They fought to restore the honor of a nation that had their flag torn town at Ft. The truth is Lincoln pledged not to fight to reclaim Fort Sumter for the North. These are just facts. And check back for further iterations of the Stogie-Donald debates! The Civil War Was Won by Immigrant Soldiers | TIME. Zocalo Public Square is a not-for-profit Ideas Exchange that blends live events and humanities journalism. In the summer of 1861, an American diplomat in Turin, Italy, looked out the window of the U.S. legation to see hundreds of young men forming a sprawling line. Some wore red shirts, emblematic of the Garibaldini who, during their campaign in southern Italy, were known for pointing one finger in the air and shouting l’Italia Unità! (Italy United!). Now they wanted to volunteer to take up arms for l’America Unità!

Meanwhile, immigrants already in the United States responded to the call to arms in extraordinary numbers. In 1860, about 13% of the U.S. population was born overseas—roughly what it is today. America’s foreign legions gave the North an incalculable advantage. In the 1860s, Confederate diplomats and supporters abroad were eager to inform Europeans that the North was actively recruiting their sons to serve as cannon fodder.

It was not true. Why did they fight? Don H. Map_of_the_Southern_United_States_modern_definition.jpg (JPEG Image, 800 × 450 pixels) Texas officials: Schools should teach that slavery was ‘side issue’ to Civil War. Five million public school students in Texas will begin using new social studies textbooks this fall based on state academic standards that barely address racial segregation. The state’s guidelines for teaching American history also do not mention the Ku Klux Klan or Jim Crow laws. And when it comes to the Civil War, children are supposed to learn that the conflict was caused by “sectionalism, states’ rights and slavery” — written deliberately in that order to telegraph slavery’s secondary role in driving the conflict, according to some members of the state board of education.

Slavery was a “side issue to the Civil War,” said Pat Hardy, a Republican board member, when the board adopted the standards in 2010. “There would be those who would say the reason for the Civil War was over slavery. “It’s the obvious question, it seems to me. [Their campaign for student government was a joke, but they’re serious about removing campus Confederate statues at the University of Texas] James W. James Earl Jones and Frederick Douglass remind us July 4th isn't everyone's Independence Day. If you believe that the best exercise of freedom of speech is resistance, then nothing is more patriotic than James Earl Jones reading Frederick Douglass's scathing abolitionist Fourth of July speech.

A Democracy Now recording of Jones reading Douglass's famous and moving speech, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," in 2004 has resurfaced just in time for Independence Day. The performance is taken from a celebration of historian Howard Zinn's famed compilation of writings from marginalized Americans, Voices of a People's History of the United States. "There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour," Jones intones in a voice full of righteous indignation. Written in 1852, Douglass's speech remind us how far we've come as a nation, and how much work we still have to do to achieve true equality for all America's citizens. The full transcript of the recording can be read at Democracy Now. How the Civil War Never Ended for Black America.

Hundreds of African-American men marched to the White House this past Sunday. They were not wearing hoodies in honor of Trayvon Martin. They were not making the “hands up don’t shoot” gesture in honor of Michael Brown. They were wearing blue wool trousers and greatcoats, forage caps and cavalry boots—in honor of African American soldiers who fought in the Civil War. Their aim: to correct a wrong made in 1865, when black soldiers were left out of the Grand Review, the Union Army’s victory parade. 1865? “Everything about the Civil War is present tense,” author C.R. One need look no further than the U.S. In 2010, the Virginia public school system introduced a 4th grade textbook with bogus claims about thousands of loyal slaves fighting on the side of the Confederacy. Such disinformation is part of a broader neo-Confederate movement to deny that slavery was a major factor in the conflict—and to bury the history of African-Americans’ active role in their own emancipation.

Dr. Purification as the Core of the Ancient Shinto Faith. A ritual based religion, Shintoism is defined as "the way of the gods" in Japan, from the Chinese Shendao. It is the indigenous religion of the country, and survives today as the state religion, primarily because it allows for the continued infusion of other faiths into its core structure, as seen when Buddhism was incorporated into the faith centuries ago. The core of Shintoism, however, is the kami system, or the belief in multiple spirits of the universe, making these adaptations viable because they are more focused on the natural world and the elements than on specific individual gods. However, despite this, Shinto does have a core group of gods and it has remained greatly admired for the way in which the religion has managed to maintain these gods while consistently incorporating aspects of numerous other religions.

One of the most pertinent rituals of the Shinto faith is the purifying ritual, performed right before entering the jinja, or shrine. Shinto Shrine Purification Basin. Civil War 'Silent Sentinels' still on guard in North, South.