Most Americans hold basic misconceptions about the Confederacy, the
Civil War, and the actions of subsequent neo-Confederates. For
example, two thirds of Americans--including most history
teachers--think the Confederate States seceded for "states'
rights." This error persists because most have never read the
key documents about the Confederacy.
These documents have
always been there. When South Carolina seceded, it published
"Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify
the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union." The
document actually opposes states' rights. Its authors argue that
Northern states were ignoring the rights of slave owners as
identified by Congress and in the Constitution. Similarly,
Mississippi's "Declaration of the Immediate Causes. . ."
says, "Our position is thoroughly identified with the
institution of slavery--the greatest material interest of the world."
Later documents in
this collection show how neo-Confederates obfuscated this truth,
starting around 1890. The evidence also points to the centrality of
race in neo-Confederate thought even today and to the continuing
importance of neo-Confederate ideas in American political life. The
150th anniversary of secession and civil war provides a moment for
all Americans to read these documents, properly set in context by
award-winning sociologist and historian James W. Loewen and coeditor,
Edward H. Sebesta, to put in perspective the mythology of the Old
South.