Slavery was already on the way out. Most southerners were poor and didn't even own slaves. It's good that our first Republican pres abolished it, but he would have relinquished on that point to avoid the war and famously said so. A bloated federal government with too much power and over a million dead Americans( edit: 620,000 dead) is the legacy that we inherit from the civil war, a tragedy all around. To equate the Confederate flag as representative of a bunch of racist hillbillys would be intentionally ignorant, but sadly that's what a lot of folks see it as.

Slavery was already on the way out. Most southerners were poor and didn't even own slaves. It's good that our first Republican pres abolished it, but he would have relinquished on that point to avoid the war and famously said so. A bloated federal government with too much power and over a million dead Americans is the legacy that we inherit from the civil war, a tragedy all around. To equate the Confederate flag as representative of a bunch of racist hillbillys would be intentionally ignorant, but sadly that's what a lot of folks see it as.