Mr. Michael's entire ideal

regarding the Confederacy, and the era leading up to the War Between the

States, is horrifically flawed. To begin with, he stated that slavery

in the South was in fact a free labor source that Northern factories were

unfairly forced to compete against. If there is any labor source that

is further from free labor than any other, it must be slavery. Slaves

are not free to own; they cost money to buy, to feed, to house, and, if

the owner is humane, to clothe.

Let's say you own plantation

A, and I own factory B. You have just purchased a male slave for $2,500.

Do you have any idea as to how much $2,500 was worth in the 1850s by today's

standards? This slave is your property, as much as a mule or a house.

I do not intend to come across as racist and bigoted by stating that slaves

were property; I am merely stating a fact, a cold, hard, inhumane fact.

Would Mr. Michael be upset

if someone were to rear-end a new car of his or spill paint on the carpet

in his house? Of course, for that is his property. And just as we try

to protect our property today, so did the plantation owners of the aristocratic

South.

Many slaves did, in fact, lead

better, healthier lives than did some of the poorer, "white trash"

Southerners of that era. The slaves were protected from harm (other than

the lash), they were fed, and they were given other necessities of life.

I know hardly anything about Mr. Michael, but I will venture to guess

to be a well-intentioned Christian, that he has a family. Perhaps he can

relate to the cost of supporting a child until adulthood. The cost is

staggering. Now, imagine supporting over 100 slaves for the entirety of

their lives. Slavery does not seem so inexpensive, does it?

In the North, there did not

exist the form of slave labor that has blacklisted the Southern states,

but there existed another form, "wage slavery." The Northern

factories were not run by blacks, but instead they were run by other ethnic

groups. These ethnic groups tended to stick together once they reached

America, and therefore, often entire factories were worked by the Irish,

the Italians, or the Polish.

These factory workers lived

a life that was hell. They often worked for wages that would starve any

other man, and as a result of a sickness of a family's primary bread winner,

many families did starve. The Northern poor lived in conditions that were

repulsive, unsightly, and highly inhumane. Yet they worked, and worked

hard, for the chance to better themselves.

However, many factory workers

decided to try to better themselves by strike and rebellion. The United

States government of the antebellum era was harsher on unruly workers

of the North than it was on the slave owners of the South. Workers were

actually forbidden, by law, to form labor unions, for such activity was

regarded as a criminal conspiracy.

Now, let's suppose my factory

B is worked by Irish workers for 50 cents a week. Do you really believe

that Irish Catholics, who are known for their large families, can survive

on 50 cents a week? They did, though.

Now, suppose my factory workers

decided to strike for better wages. The Irish won't work for 50 cents

a week? Well, the Italians will work for 30 cents a week. So I fire all

of my Irish, and bring in the Italians. The Irishman, who now has no job,

no housing, and, most horrifically, is starving, seems a far cry worse

than his Southern counterpart, who is fed, clothed, and housed.

What I am trying to say is

that not all slave owners were the cruel, vicious, murderous Christ-forsakers

that you portray them to be. Many were kind, loving, and generous people

that, when the time came, their slaves refused to leave because the slaves

loved their owners.

You portray the Confederacy

as an uncivilized, inhumane, and backwards country, and the Union as a

country that does the will of God, fights for justice, and protects the

afflicted. The entire basis of slavery was a circulation of goods that

profited both the North and the South. The Southern cotton was shipped

to Northern textile mills, where it was made into clothing, and then the

clothes were shipped to Europe, particularly England.

Since Northern shippers profited

from slave labor, and English families wore the clothing that was made

from slave-picked cotton, should we also renounce England and the Republic?

Should we renounce the England that was intensely against slavery, or

the "boys in blue" that died fighting for the Union? By Mr.

Michael's logic, we should.

Addressing his statement that

"the Egyptians, Romans, and Nazi Germans built entire empires at

the hands and on the backs of enslaved persons that caused them to be

wiped from the face of the earth [by] their hardened hearts that refused

to repent and turn to God," I would like to state this. He wrote

that the Roman empire was destroyed by God. The Roman Empire is now the

largest empire in the world, for the modern Roman Empire is the Holy Catholic

Church. Perhaps you should read the history regarding Emperor Constantine

and his becoming a Christian.

My grandfather fought in the

85th Infantry division during World War II, he saw combat action at Anzio

and Monte Casino, and I would appreciate it if you would show him, and

the millions of others who fought Axis tyranny, significantly more respect

than you do by stating that the Nazis were wiped off the earth because

of their refusal to turn to the Lord.

It was also brave men and women

who were willing to die, and did die, to preserve the freedom that permits

you to pen such disrespectful letters as the one I am responding to. And,

this may come as a shock to you, but not all German soldiers during World

War II were the godless, Satan-loving anti-Christs that yearned to do

the will of the dark one that you portray them as.

Many were, in fact, Christians,

just like you and me, who desired to be home with their families, and

who celebrated the birth and resurrection of our Savior with just as much

reverence as you or I do. They were boys who wished the war to be over,

so they could grow old with the ones that they loved and enjoy the life

that the God they loved had given to them. They went to war because they

felt it was their duty to their country and their families. Your point

of view is one that often results from reading only one point of view

of the history books, and only one side of a war.

Mr. Michael asks where are

the soldiers of God? I can tell you that in Jonesboro, at a certain Confederate

cemetery, where there is an arch with the poetic words "Confederate

Dead" inscribed in its stone, an unknown number are buried.

Matthew Bryan Roberts

Junior, McIntosh High School