Slapping Wrists for Treason

[Imperial Eagle]

I live by this saying: Some say Sherman didn't do anything wrong. I disagree...he stopped. We should have hung at least Davis and his cabinet

[Atheris]

I live by this saying: Some say Sherman didn't do anything wrong. I disagree...he stopped. We should have hung at least Davis and his cabinet

From a sour apple tree.

[The Archregimancy]

Wait, do Kentucky, Maryland, and Mississippi not exist?

Kentucky never chose to join the Confederacy in the first place. Maryland was sort of borderline.

When did Mississippi rebel against the Confederacy?

Atheris might have been thinking of the 1863-1864 Free State of Jones, when Jones County, Mississippi, resisted the state authorities. The extent to which it attempted to secede from the rest of the state, attempted to recognise the Union, or simply refused to recognise the authority of the state to collect taxes is disputed. Thanks to the namesake 2016 film, it's also been highly romanticised. Nonetheless, by 1863 even rural Mississippi was facing pockets of internal resistance to the war.

Anyway, the original contention was that when states seceded everyone in those states celebrated, and there were no rebellions or resistance in the seceding states in the immediate aftermath of secession. As you point out, Kentucky and Maryland never seceded, so aren't particularly relevant here; though, without going into the complexities of the situation, both had significant sectors of pro-South sympathy, and Kentucky initially tried to stay neutral.

I used West Virginia because it was the most obvious example of why the original contention was factually wrong. Virginia - the state where the Confederacy's capital was located - was so split that when the state seceded from the Union, 50 counties ended up seceding from Virginia. North Carolina was split along similar lines, though in that case the pro-Union western counties didn't secede. They nonetheless remained significant centres of passive resistance - such as tax evasion - to the authorities of the seceded state and were the main source of the Union's North Carolina regiments (the latter ultimately including over 20,000 deserters from the CSA army). Meanwhile, the eastern third of Tennessee voted firmly against secession in the state's June 1861 referendum, and the state continued to supply important Union military and civil leaders - most notably (if ultimately somewhat unfortunately) Andrew Johnson. Those three examples help to demonstrate that Appalachia, at least, was not enthusiastic about secession.

So the idea that everyone in the South celebrated secession, and the good people of the Confederacy universally and happily accepted secession without a murmur of discontent, is clearly a myth.

More to the point, when someone propagates this myth, what they actually mean is 'white people celebrated secession'. Given that the very same enslaved African Americans whose enslaved status the Confederacy spent so much time and effort trying to maintain - and in South Carolina and Mississippi those slaves were a majority of the population - were unable to effectively voice an opinion on secession for obvious reasons, the extent to which secession represented the popular will of all state residents, even in those Deep South states where secession was genuinely widely supported by those lucky enough to enjoy the franchise, is perhaps open to question.

[Ethel mermania]

I live by this saying: Some say Sherman didn't do anything wrong. I disagree...he stopped. We should have hung at least Davis and his cabinet

Except Sherman's terms to johnson were much more lenient than Grant's terms to Lee.

[The Archregimancy]

I live by this saying: Some say Sherman didn't do anything wrong. I disagree...he stopped. We should have hung at least Davis and his cabinet

That assumes that Davis and cabinet would have been found guilty in a trial; since this is the United States we're talking about, I assume you're planning on having some form of trial first?

Davis actually wanted the platform of a formal trial. And while a desire for reconciliation was one of the factors for denying him that platform, another key factor was concern in Washington that a trial might potentially find that secession was legal even if it also found Davis guilty of treason or another relevant offence.

Davis was pardoned on Christmas Day 1868, but the Supreme Court wouldn't definitively rule that secession was unconstitutional until Texas v. White in 1869.

All of which also answers one of the key points in the OP.

[Ethel mermania]

I live by this saying: Some say Sherman didn't do anything wrong. I disagree...he stopped. We should have hung at least Davis and his cabinet

That assumes that Davis and cabinet would have been found guilty in a trial; since this is the United States we're talking about, I assume you're planning on having some form of trial first?

Davis actually wanted the platform of a formal trial. And while a desire for reconciliation was one of the factors for denying him that platform, another key factor was concern in Washington that a trial might potentially find that secession was legal even if it also found Davis guilty of treason or another relevant offence.

Davis was pardoned on Christmas Day 1868, but the Supreme Court wouldn't definitively rule that secession was unconstitutional until Texas v. White in 1869.

All of which also answers one of the key points in the OP.

Also as congress had barred him from ever holding office again, double jeopardy would come into play.

[LiberNovusAmericae]

I don’t. I don’t think any symbol or flag should be able to be banned. The 1st amendment promises freedom of speech

The First Amendment is to ensure people can criticize the government without being punished for it.

Banning flags will help pave the way for more government censorship of speech, and may allow the government to ban protest banners and other symbols. It's a grotesque flag, but not something the government should ban.

[Cisairse]

I live by this saying: Some say Sherman didn't do anything wrong. I disagree...he stopped. We should have hung at least Davis and his cabinet

Davis was a great asset to the Union

[Rojava Free State]

The First Amendment is to ensure people can criticize the government without being punished for it.

Banning flags will help pave the way for more government censorship of speech, and may allow the government to ban protest banners and other symbols. It's a grotesque flag, but not something the government should ban.

I believe people should be allowed to say whatever they want short of yelling fire in a crowded theater. Even the most vile ideas should be allowed to be expressed so we know our far less extreme ideas are safe.

[Senkaku]

Our approach to dealing with ex-Confederates definitely reminds me of a Yankee-flavored version of Madero letting ex-Porfirian officials off the hook during the Mexican Revolution lol

Interestingly enough, both Madero and Lincoln bought a bullet.

Hhmmm.

Yep. Something about North America that just makes people unwilling to finish the job, I guess

[Genivaria]

I live by this saying: Some say Sherman didn't do anything wrong. I disagree...he stopped. We should have hung at least Davis and his cabinet

This is my favorite thing, you just disproved my sig friend.

[West Leas Oros 2]

Banning flags will help pave the way for more government censorship of speech, and may allow the government to ban protest banners and other symbols. It's a grotesque flag, but not something the government should ban.

I believe people should be allowed to say whatever they want short of yelling fire in a crowded theater. Even the most vile ideas should be allowed to be expressed so we know our far less extreme ideas are safe.

It lets everyone else identify you as a shithead more easily if you fly the Confederate Flag.

[Rojava Free State]

I believe people should be allowed to say whatever they want short of yelling fire in a crowded theater. Even the most vile ideas should be allowed to be expressed so we know our far less extreme ideas are safe.

It lets everyone else identify you as a shithead more easily if you fly the Confederate Flag.

It gives me an early warning that I dont wanna talk to you. See, it does good.

[West Leas Oros 2]

It lets everyone else identify you as a shithead more easily if you fly the Confederate Flag.

It gives me an early warning that I dont wanna talk to you. See, it does good.

Honestly, we should mandate that supporters of the Confederacy fly their treasonous flags so we can publicly shame them. :^)

[LiberNovusAmericae]

It lets everyone else identify you as a shithead more easily if you fly the Confederate Flag.

It gives me an early warning that I dont wanna talk to you. See, it does good.

I agree with both of you.

[Genivaria]

It gives me an early warning that I dont wanna talk to you. See, it does good.

Honestly, we should mandate that supporters of the Confederacy fly their treasonous flags so we can publicly shame them. :^)

Gettin strong Inglorious Basterds vibes here.

[Rojava Free State]

It gives me an early warning that I dont wanna talk to you. See, it does good.

Honestly, we should mandate that supporters of the Confederacy fly their treasonous flags so we can publicly shame them. :^)

West, that...is a-okay

[Rojava Free State]

Honestly, we should mandate that supporters of the Confederacy fly their treasonous flags so we can publicly shame them. :^)

Gettin strong Inglorious Basterds vibes here.

We're not gonna kill them, we just wanna talk to them.

[West Leas Oros 2]

Gettin strong Inglorious Basterds vibes here.

We're not gonna kill them, we just wanna talk to them.

And maybe punch them in the face. But no killing.

[Rojava Free State]

We're not gonna kill them, we just wanna talk to them.

And maybe punch them in the face. But no killing.

"Just wanna talk."

[Genivaria]

Gettin strong Inglorious Basterds vibes here.

We're not gonna kill them, we just wanna talk to them.

I mean't with the scarring, have you seen the movie?

[Grenartia]

We're not gonna kill them, we just wanna talk to them.

I mean't with the scarring, have you seen the movie?

You know how you get to Carnegie Hall, don't ya?

[Kanadorika]

What absolutely amazes me is why the hell people in West Virginia fly Confederate flags. Historically, the people of the Appalachians were too poor to afford slaves and as such, didn't have a reason to revolt. Its not a southern state, and literally came into existence because it seceded from Virginia, which seceded from the union.

Wait a second. West Virginia secceeded twice. It's the supreme rebel state.

[Bear Stearns]

It's interesting that the father removed we are from the Civil War, the harsher the revenge fantasies against the Confederacy become.

[Bear Stearns]

I, too, want to see the CSA wiped away. The only place it has in this world is history books and museums. Everything else can burn hotter than the fires lit from Sherman's March to Sea as far as I care.

That actually happened though. The CSA doesn't exist anymore. Crying out for a blood-soaked revenge 150 years later is just...weird.