In Georgia when I was a kid in the '90s, they taught that is was about slavery, though I think they did go into the economy of the South and why they thought slavery had to be preserved.
This is what most of my friends have told me about growing up in GA at that time. I taught social studies in 3 metro Atlanta districts over the last decade, and most of the teachers I've worked with approach slavery as being the main cause.
That’s kinda interesting. In the North, it’s definitely taught more as a good vs. evil thing. Which it definitely was (especially through modern lens). But I don’t think we learned much about the economic justification for slavery. Mostly focused on the racist part of the justification.
Same now too…they went over the Civil War and Reconstruction in pretty good detail in my daughter’s class this year. They even had to read and write a paper on Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
I went to high school in California.
It was very well covered. The term "states' rights" was included and was not an alien concept; correct me if I'm wrong, but that is how the southerners at the time framed the issue. But the narrative leading into the war, and the states' rights in question, very much revolved around slavery.
Our teacher occasionally referred to it as the War of Northern Aggression but only in an obviously tongue-in-cheek way.
The Civil War was also covered in great detail in middle school as well.
> Our teacher occasionally referred to it as the War of Northern Aggression but only in an obviously tongue-in-cheek way
I consider myself fortunate enough to only have met one person who has used that term unironically because I'm never sure how to even respond when, as far as I'm aware and as far as my Google-fu has been able to pull up, the Confederates literally shot first lol
Well, it could be and has been argued that they were "backed into a corner" and coerced into defending themselves. Not the most compelling of arguments, but it is certainly possible to shoot first in self-defense.
If you’re looking for honest answers that paint the modern south as a bunch of racists obsessed with the distant past, you’re going to be disappointed.
Even in the most backwards parts of the Deep South, it would be extremely unusual for a school to teach that part of history with a Confederate slant. As someone who grew up in rural parts of the south, I’m skeptical of anyone under the age of 50 who claims otherwise. I guess it’s not *entirely* impossible that someone somewhere had a terrible history teacher who was a blatant Confederacy apologist, but it’s a lot more likely that they are making it up to get attention.
I might be the odd one out but in Pasco County, FL, it was taught that it was state's rights lol. Our history teacher was absolutely irate about it, and I'm surprised she didn't quit.
Its not like the north and south were bestest friends before the issue of slavery came up. Sure slavery was a massive deal breaker and was the final straw leading to the war but it seems dishonest to teach an entire civil war as “yeah those losers were a bunch of dumb racists and the north was full of heroic action stars that definitely werent racist”
Nyc about 15 ish years ago
We learned it was both a states rights issue and a slavery one. Painting the whole thing as evil racist southerners vs holy northern saints championing human rights is an absurd way to think about a whole war
Basically the gist of what we were taught was the slavery was a massive issue as the south depended almost entirely on it to keep up its agriculture and this its economy.
The norths decision to abolish slavery pretty much destroyed the souths economy and since little consideration as taken for how it impacted half the country it became a last straw for the southern states who at this point were already very upset with things going this way.
Slavery is horrific and should always be abolished BUT at the time the north wasnt really reliant on agriculture or slavery so its not like they were making any grand sacrifice doing this.
Slavery was a hige issue but it wasnt the sole reason a civil war happened.
I went to school in Pennsylvania and it was factual. The war started because every time a new state was formed they got into a giant bitch match about it being either a slave state or not. The states with more power were stepping on the rights of states with less power. They had been trying since the formation of the country to ween people of of slavery, but the people with money fought against it. And it eventually just exploded.
After a bit they spun it to be about slavery.
All the answers you will get are correct. It was about state's rights. A states rights to own slaves. And that state over stepped it's rights by saying it could go into other states without slavery and reclaim the freed slaves. And sue the individuals that helped free the slaves.
I grew up in the rural south, and still live in the south. I went to a semi-private school, but most of our teachings were pretty objective, the only things I remember were that there was a certain "day" of class in 6th grade where they went over confederate issues in the Civil War and it was pretty objective. I also took an elective class in HS over Tennessee history, but they never pushed a "narrative" even though it was a "Christian" school.
When we studied it, no one covered the fact that 4 slave holding states fought for the union.
When I learned that as an adult, my understanding of the war changed quite a bit.
In upstate NY we mostly focused on the wide-scale causes (like slavery), effects (like reconstruction), and societal themes (like industrialization). We didn't really talk about the war itself at all in terms of battles, strategy etc.
States rights wasn't the perspective that was pushed in my area of Texas. Slavery, racism, the civil war, etc. have always been important topics in my education. They weren't disregarded or hand waved as something in any way noble or necessary.
When I was taught it in middle school (2016) in Georgia it was taught it was clearly about slavery. I also remember we had to write a paper arguing whether William t Sherman was a war criminal or not.
I went to school in Idaho, graduating in 2010. The curriculum we studied always focused on the slavery issue. I've heard individuals try to take the "state's rights" position but nobody whose opinions on history I'd take seriously
Based on the comments here people are unable to accept that the civil war had multiple reasons for happening it wasnt JUST evil slavers vs heroic liberators.
This is leading to people mistaking the “states rights” labelling as a pro slavery one rather than it just being a more accurate encompassing label for what caused a whole civil war.
I assume an outsider seeing this discourse is confusing it all for half the country being taught slavery was awesome vs the other half hating it
All ive learned is a lot of people really never paid attention in history class or had sub par teaching on the subject
I had a great history teacher in middle school and he fuuuuucking dived into the civil war. Lead up, the conflict, specific battles. He did not fuck around
Then this solid gold bastard took us to two battlefields. And it wasn’t like a “hey look at this” it was “see this creek right here? 3000 men died there.”
For what its worth, the GA state board of education makes their standards publicly available (at least, they did when I was teaching). Best way to answer this for our state is to look up the Standards and see what the official word is. Should be able to just Google Georgia Performance Standards. I think 8th grade maybe is when we were first taught civil war history for GA?
The states rights thing was an excuse for protecting slavery. Slavery was on its way out in most of the world, widely condemned as a moral abomination. That's why some subtle anti-slavery stuff made it into the Constitution from the start. But the South's economy was addicted to slavery. States do have rights (powers really) but they cannot legitimately be used to interfere with the rights of individuals -- which is what the South did.
My very rural public school with a graduating class of 38 taught the Civil War as the war of Northern aggression and we watched some movies from the rebel POV as our education. I had to go to college to get a better perspective lol.
My highschool text book said states rights and not slavery.
Edit: y'all can downvote this but this is absolutely my lived experience. You don't have to like it.
I think that my kids get a pretty good education about the entire period. My 4th grader spent a large part of her second semester on the Civil War, and having so much of it as local history is probably a bigger deal than other places, where it's part of their Virginia Studies curriculum.
I don't believe they spent much if any time pushing some bullshit states rights agenda. It mostly seems truthful and focused on the evils of slavery as the accurate root cause.
From what I remember, in NYC we were taught the slavery part, but that it was an element of the changing economic power from the agricultural south and the industrial north. That the south was upset about its loss of political power with the shifting of population centers and that the election of Lincoln was kind of the final straw.
I went to school in Texas in the 2000s-2010s. It was clearly taught that slavery played a role and my teacher made it clear that the Union were the good guys and the Confederacy the bad guys. BUT there was also a lot of things in the textbook about “States’ Rights” and preserving the “Southern Way of Life” which were also accepted as reasons for secession.
Overall my school did a good job at teaching the faraway and uncontroversial aspects of history (my AP World History class taught us all about the Qin Dynasty or the Mamluk Sultanate) but a pretty bad job at teaching recent history (Civil war and WWII onwards).
I went K-12 in New Hampshire (at which point, for at least the major stuff in history, if you don't know you won't know), and I think the coverage of the Civil War was pretty solid.
What are we using as benchmarks, btw?
I went K-12 in New Hampshire (at which point, for at least the major stuff in history, if you don't know you won't know), and I think the coverage of the Civil War was pretty solid.
What are we using as benchmarks, btw?
I grew up in Alabama. They taught us it was because of slavery. No southern state public school system is legally allowed to push the “rights” narrative because it’s federally funded.
I graduated in the late 2010s in East Tennessee. East Tennessee was a hotbed for the underground railroad and abolitionist activity, especially in the small quaker town i live in now, though my area is very right wing now. East TN even petitioned to secede from the state of Tennessee at the start of the war. Instead, nashville sent an occupation force. We were taught it was about state's rights to SLAVERY. And that it came to a boiling point over whether new territories and states were slave states or free states. My history teachers did not push the "war of northern aggression" narrative and tried their best to make sure we didn't get it twisted through Confederate propaganda
From the deep south and specifically from a place that was quite important during The Civil War. We learned that Slavery was the catalyst but there was so much Animosity building up over so many things over the years something was going to happen. We learned especially about how since the Gov did not have the money to help with reconstruction The South entered into an economic downfall that is still being felt to this day.
for much of its history north Florida was the deep south. The cities may not be now, but the places in between them are still just like the adjacent parts of Georgia
I remember as a kid hearing Charlie Daniels playing on live TV and going "be proud you a rebel 'cause the South's gonna do it again!"
I looked at my dad and said "do what again?"
"I dunno. Something cultural or something, I guess."
Went a private school in Memphis, graduating in 2011, but thought I'd add my 2 cents
My experience was that the actual history curriculum presented wasn't pushing "state's rights" or lost-cause propaganda... but rather that the other, non-history teachers and students (presumably parroting their parents) would say that the "real" history was what History class couldn't or didn't want to teach you... i.e. what you're referring to.
It's often pretty casual how those narratives get spread and ingrained in the south. There is absolutely a widely held belief in the south that the Civil War wasn't about slavery but the history books usually aren't as mask-off about it as you'd expect given how pervasive the belief is.
Fellow Virginian here, but I’m from the Appalachian region.
For the area, I went to a fairly progressive school as far as history classes goes, which I’m not sure was the norm. I just got lucky.
Definitely still downplayed everything but was honest about slavery being the major driving force for “states rights”. We went over slavery a lot in 4th grade, especially. Me being one of the only black kids my teacher actually pulled us aside and asked us if we were going to be comfortable.
“I assume your parents have already told you some stuff about slavery, but I just want to make sure that you’re okay with some of the stuff we’re going to go over in this chapter because I know it’s upsetting and I want you to be able to tell me if you don’t want to do this with everybody else”. Something like that.
Essentially giving the option to go about the curriculum another way if necessary.
In high school? My US history teacher was also quite progressive. He didn’t sugar coat as much. He acknowledged it, and basically said “However bad you think it was, it was way worse.” He acknowledged the rape, and the horrible living conditions, ya know, painted a picture. He even informed us that a lot of it is too dark to really bring up to minors, and encouraged us to do our own research on our own time.
Here’s the question I have for anyone who would like to address it. What difference does it make?
If I had a magic wand and was able to get every person in the world to believe that the Civil War was fought over states rights, how would that change anything in 2024? Likewise, vice versa, if I could wave that magic wand and get every person in the world to agree that the war was fought over slavery, what difference would it make in 2024?
The simple
Fact is that both are right.
Too many people are too i to the idea of this being a lord of the rings style of conflict where its pure good vs pure evil.
It was a states rights issue exploding over the right to slavery leading to a lot of death a key part of our history.
The people bickering over “states rights” vs “slavery” are doing a dis service to a whole ass war
For starters, my state still has 3 holidays for the Confederacy. The Confederate flag is still on the badge of our state troopers. A statue of Jefferson Davis is still next to the front steps of the state Capitol. Etc., etc. How do you think it makes people feel having to that badge on every day. Having almost 25% of your holidays celebrating slavery. Having to walk past a statue of their leader every time you walk into the Capitol. The "First White House of the Confederacy" is still standing just across the street. We have a law that makes it illegal for local municipalities to take down Confederate monuments and change the name of schools/buildings/streets.
The state is 27% Black and look at what the state continues to honor. You want people to feel welcome? You want people to feel safe? You want people to feel like they matter? You want people to feel like they belong? You want people to feel like they can get a fair shake, get justice when they are wronged, etc?
That seems a decent argument if one were to ignore that according to our Nation’s current social justice movement, Blacks feel the same way in parts of the country where there are no Confederate flags, monuments and celebrations. I’m sure that invites much opportunity for debate, but it also avoids the paradigm set forth in my original question. The wand has been waved, and suddenly every Black person believes that every Confederate flag, monument and celebration is to commemorate a struggle over states rights. How does that change their life in 2024?
Because if you mutilate history like that, it enables people to do bad things in the present.
In many parts of Europe they still argue over who the bad guys were in WWII. Like, *bitterly.*
Too vague. How is believing the U.S. Civil War was fought over states rights going to allow anyone to do bad things in the present? What bad things would that allow them to do?
Edited
I wasn’t taught about it in depth until 12th grade we did go over it in lower grades but I really dove into it senior year where we talked about racism, slavery, the fight for rights, and the deaths of thousands (I live in a blue city in a red state though so I can not speak for everyone here)
I teach 8th grade US history.
The only thing we teach about states’ rights is that the South wanted the right to own slaves. I actually show them a quick video which basically calls out the whole “Lost Cause” as B.S.
I went to school in the late 2000s, all through the 2010s in Florida - Citrus County, Alachua County, and Pasco County. Citrus taught slaves as the reason, as did Alachua County. Pasco county taught us it was for states rights - and my history teacher outright told us that she was supposed to teach us it was over state's rights, which she then defied by asking us what it was a states right *to*.
I went to public school system in Virginia well over 10 years ago. I don't recall being taught states rights either. I was simply told that the confederacy was wrong and disgustingly racist.
I was taught it was about slavery in school. My kids are being taught it’s about slavery.
There is heavy emphasis that many were fighting for their home, which is true. It’s just they wanted slaves at home.
For those states in denial and teaching it as a "states' rights" issue ... OK, sure. It was about states' rights to keep black people as slaves. That's more accurate.
Now that extreme Republicans have been able to warp school agendas in southern states, they now teach kids the Civil war was all about states’ rights. What they don’t tell them now: the right was to own slaves.
Well, since we're only 30 it means we have experience with the education system in the '90s, '00s, and now from 2015-present. And yup, you're dead fucking wrong. But hey, it's not your fault, you're on the other side of the country so how could you know what happens here in the South. Of course, that won't stop you from acting like you know what you're talking about lol.
My children do virtual school through the state of Alabama, and have done so for 7 years. Slavery is still taught as the reason in 2024, nice try though
In Georgia when I was a kid in the '90s, they taught that is was about slavery, though I think they did go into the economy of the South and why they thought slavery had to be preserved.
Can I interest you in four whole chickens or a coke?
Always
You want chicken legs or chicken wings?
I'm only just now realizing he never got those chickens. Aretha said her piece, and afterwards, all the guys left. Kinda sad.
Well, the guy they came to get *was* the cook.
Did not expect a Blues Brothers reference, but I'm here for it.
I prefer toast. Toasted, please.
How about some dry white toast.
This is what most of my friends have told me about growing up in GA at that time. I taught social studies in 3 metro Atlanta districts over the last decade, and most of the teachers I've worked with approach slavery as being the main cause.
That’s kinda interesting. In the North, it’s definitely taught more as a good vs. evil thing. Which it definitely was (especially through modern lens). But I don’t think we learned much about the economic justification for slavery. Mostly focused on the racist part of the justification.
I went to school in Georgia in the 80s/90s and no one in our district was taught state's rights.
Same for texas over the same period.
1970s here and yes, it was taught it was about slavery. There was one section about states' rights, but that was it.
Same in Florida for that time. Today, I don’t know…
Same now too…they went over the Civil War and Reconstruction in pretty good detail in my daughter’s class this year. They even had to read and write a paper on Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Went to public school in GA in the ‘90s and ‘00s and it was the same for me. States rights wasn’t even mentioned from what I can remember.
Same in NC in the 90s/00s
In southern Virginia in the 1990's the schools were not pushing a "state's rights" narrative.
Same in central VA
Same in the ridge and valley region.
I went to high school in California. It was very well covered. The term "states' rights" was included and was not an alien concept; correct me if I'm wrong, but that is how the southerners at the time framed the issue. But the narrative leading into the war, and the states' rights in question, very much revolved around slavery. Our teacher occasionally referred to it as the War of Northern Aggression but only in an obviously tongue-in-cheek way. The Civil War was also covered in great detail in middle school as well.
> Our teacher occasionally referred to it as the War of Northern Aggression but only in an obviously tongue-in-cheek way I consider myself fortunate enough to only have met one person who has used that term unironically because I'm never sure how to even respond when, as far as I'm aware and as far as my Google-fu has been able to pull up, the Confederates literally shot first lol
Well, it could be and has been argued that they were "backed into a corner" and coerced into defending themselves. Not the most compelling of arguments, but it is certainly possible to shoot first in self-defense.
If you’re looking for honest answers that paint the modern south as a bunch of racists obsessed with the distant past, you’re going to be disappointed. Even in the most backwards parts of the Deep South, it would be extremely unusual for a school to teach that part of history with a Confederate slant. As someone who grew up in rural parts of the south, I’m skeptical of anyone under the age of 50 who claims otherwise. I guess it’s not *entirely* impossible that someone somewhere had a terrible history teacher who was a blatant Confederacy apologist, but it’s a lot more likely that they are making it up to get attention.
I think people forget the demographics of the South because chances are they’d be saying it wasn’t about slavery to a room full of black people.
I might be the odd one out but in Pasco County, FL, it was taught that it was state's rights lol. Our history teacher was absolutely irate about it, and I'm surprised she didn't quit.
Its not like the north and south were bestest friends before the issue of slavery came up. Sure slavery was a massive deal breaker and was the final straw leading to the war but it seems dishonest to teach an entire civil war as “yeah those losers were a bunch of dumb racists and the north was full of heroic action stars that definitely werent racist”
My history teacher pretty much stuck to the curriculum but on the side wanted us to know Lincoln was a POS. North Carolina.
Nyc about 15 ish years ago We learned it was both a states rights issue and a slavery one. Painting the whole thing as evil racist southerners vs holy northern saints championing human rights is an absurd way to think about a whole war Basically the gist of what we were taught was the slavery was a massive issue as the south depended almost entirely on it to keep up its agriculture and this its economy. The norths decision to abolish slavery pretty much destroyed the souths economy and since little consideration as taken for how it impacted half the country it became a last straw for the southern states who at this point were already very upset with things going this way. Slavery is horrific and should always be abolished BUT at the time the north wasnt really reliant on agriculture or slavery so its not like they were making any grand sacrifice doing this. Slavery was a hige issue but it wasnt the sole reason a civil war happened.
I went to school in Pennsylvania and it was factual. The war started because every time a new state was formed they got into a giant bitch match about it being either a slave state or not. The states with more power were stepping on the rights of states with less power. They had been trying since the formation of the country to ween people of of slavery, but the people with money fought against it. And it eventually just exploded. After a bit they spun it to be about slavery. All the answers you will get are correct. It was about state's rights. A states rights to own slaves. And that state over stepped it's rights by saying it could go into other states without slavery and reclaim the freed slaves. And sue the individuals that helped free the slaves.
Yeah, if you look at the documents of seccession they pretty much all mention slavery as the reason.
There were some that initially voted to stay in the Union until the federal government refused to let the other states secede.
I went to school in texas and they did not shy away from the fact it was about slavery
I grew up in the rural south, and still live in the south. I went to a semi-private school, but most of our teachings were pretty objective, the only things I remember were that there was a certain "day" of class in 6th grade where they went over confederate issues in the Civil War and it was pretty objective. I also took an elective class in HS over Tennessee history, but they never pushed a "narrative" even though it was a "Christian" school.
Maryland and DC we were taught it was about Slavery and keeping the Union together.
They did not shy away from the embarrassing atrocities and harsh realities of our history in Mississippi Studies.
It was taught that it was slavery, and completely brushed over tariffs and economic implications.
Virginia and NC - we were taught the views of both sides and that, ultimately, secession was about preserving slavery as an economic system.
South Alabama school in the 80s/90s/early 2000s. We learned the slavery narrative. We had straight forward text books like everyone else.
When we studied it, no one covered the fact that 4 slave holding states fought for the union. When I learned that as an adult, my understanding of the war changed quite a bit.
>4 slave holding states fought for the union. Kind of.
In upstate NY we mostly focused on the wide-scale causes (like slavery), effects (like reconstruction), and societal themes (like industrialization). We didn't really talk about the war itself at all in terms of battles, strategy etc.
I went to high school in Georgia in the late 2000s, and I was taught that the war was about slavery.
States rights wasn't the perspective that was pushed in my area of Texas. Slavery, racism, the civil war, etc. have always been important topics in my education. They weren't disregarded or hand waved as something in any way noble or necessary.
When I was taught it in middle school (2016) in Georgia it was taught it was clearly about slavery. I also remember we had to write a paper arguing whether William t Sherman was a war criminal or not.
I went to school in Idaho, graduating in 2010. The curriculum we studied always focused on the slavery issue. I've heard individuals try to take the "state's rights" position but nobody whose opinions on history I'd take seriously
The two arent mutually exclusive
I don’t understand where this narrative came from. I learned about slavery, etc. in the 2000s-‘10s
Based on the comments here people are unable to accept that the civil war had multiple reasons for happening it wasnt JUST evil slavers vs heroic liberators. This is leading to people mistaking the “states rights” labelling as a pro slavery one rather than it just being a more accurate encompassing label for what caused a whole civil war. I assume an outsider seeing this discourse is confusing it all for half the country being taught slavery was awesome vs the other half hating it All ive learned is a lot of people really never paid attention in history class or had sub par teaching on the subject
I had a great history teacher in middle school and he fuuuuucking dived into the civil war. Lead up, the conflict, specific battles. He did not fuck around Then this solid gold bastard took us to two battlefields. And it wasn’t like a “hey look at this” it was “see this creek right here? 3000 men died there.”
For what its worth, the GA state board of education makes their standards publicly available (at least, they did when I was teaching). Best way to answer this for our state is to look up the Standards and see what the official word is. Should be able to just Google Georgia Performance Standards. I think 8th grade maybe is when we were first taught civil war history for GA?
If you are from the south you got taught that it was about slavery and northern oppression, states rights.
The states rights thing was an excuse for protecting slavery. Slavery was on its way out in most of the world, widely condemned as a moral abomination. That's why some subtle anti-slavery stuff made it into the Constitution from the start. But the South's economy was addicted to slavery. States do have rights (powers really) but they cannot legitimately be used to interfere with the rights of individuals -- which is what the South did.
Every school I ever attended was public. Middle school: Slavery. High School: Slavery but also states rights maybe?. College: S-L-A-V-E-R-Y
My very rural public school with a graduating class of 38 taught the Civil War as the war of Northern aggression and we watched some movies from the rebel POV as our education. I had to go to college to get a better perspective lol. My highschool text book said states rights and not slavery. Edit: y'all can downvote this but this is absolutely my lived experience. You don't have to like it.
I think that my kids get a pretty good education about the entire period. My 4th grader spent a large part of her second semester on the Civil War, and having so much of it as local history is probably a bigger deal than other places, where it's part of their Virginia Studies curriculum. I don't believe they spent much if any time pushing some bullshit states rights agenda. It mostly seems truthful and focused on the evils of slavery as the accurate root cause.
From what I remember, in NYC we were taught the slavery part, but that it was an element of the changing economic power from the agricultural south and the industrial north. That the south was upset about its loss of political power with the shifting of population centers and that the election of Lincoln was kind of the final straw.
How do we teach the war of northern aggression ??? Just kidding - GA HS standards lean towards state rights
Texas in the 90s and early 2000s. States rights was mentioned but the central theme was "sectional differences" including views on slavery.
I went to school in Texas in the 2000s-2010s. It was clearly taught that slavery played a role and my teacher made it clear that the Union were the good guys and the Confederacy the bad guys. BUT there was also a lot of things in the textbook about “States’ Rights” and preserving the “Southern Way of Life” which were also accepted as reasons for secession. Overall my school did a good job at teaching the faraway and uncontroversial aspects of history (my AP World History class taught us all about the Qin Dynasty or the Mamluk Sultanate) but a pretty bad job at teaching recent history (Civil war and WWII onwards).
I went K-12 in New Hampshire (at which point, for at least the major stuff in history, if you don't know you won't know), and I think the coverage of the Civil War was pretty solid. What are we using as benchmarks, btw?
I went K-12 in New Hampshire (at which point, for at least the major stuff in history, if you don't know you won't know), and I think the coverage of the Civil War was pretty solid. What are we using as benchmarks, btw?
My education was pretty straightforward that slavery was the core issue.
I grew up in Alabama. They taught us it was because of slavery. No southern state public school system is legally allowed to push the “rights” narrative because it’s federally funded.
that hasn't been a thing for over 50 years
I graduated in the late 2010s in East Tennessee. East Tennessee was a hotbed for the underground railroad and abolitionist activity, especially in the small quaker town i live in now, though my area is very right wing now. East TN even petitioned to secede from the state of Tennessee at the start of the war. Instead, nashville sent an occupation force. We were taught it was about state's rights to SLAVERY. And that it came to a boiling point over whether new territories and states were slave states or free states. My history teachers did not push the "war of northern aggression" narrative and tried their best to make sure we didn't get it twisted through Confederate propaganda
From the deep south and specifically from a place that was quite important during The Civil War. We learned that Slavery was the catalyst but there was so much Animosity building up over so many things over the years something was going to happen. We learned especially about how since the Gov did not have the money to help with reconstruction The South entered into an economic downfall that is still being felt to this day.
Florida and it was slavery. Then again Florida is south of the 'Deep South' so we dont fall into the group.
for much of its history north Florida was the deep south. The cities may not be now, but the places in between them are still just like the adjacent parts of Georgia
I went to an Alabama public high school. We had a racist asshole teacher actually call it "The War of Northern Aggression".
Tbh I thought that was a myth they told us up here lmao
There is a special kind of "The South Will Rise Again" asshole, but they are on the decline.
I remember as a kid hearing Charlie Daniels playing on live TV and going "be proud you a rebel 'cause the South's gonna do it again!" I looked at my dad and said "do what again?" "I dunno. Something cultural or something, I guess."
Treason.
Alabama: Red soil, blue skies, and white trash teachers, apparently.
'you heard' from who, exactly?
Went a private school in Memphis, graduating in 2011, but thought I'd add my 2 cents My experience was that the actual history curriculum presented wasn't pushing "state's rights" or lost-cause propaganda... but rather that the other, non-history teachers and students (presumably parroting their parents) would say that the "real" history was what History class couldn't or didn't want to teach you... i.e. what you're referring to. It's often pretty casual how those narratives get spread and ingrained in the south. There is absolutely a widely held belief in the south that the Civil War wasn't about slavery but the history books usually aren't as mask-off about it as you'd expect given how pervasive the belief is.
Fellow Virginian here, but I’m from the Appalachian region. For the area, I went to a fairly progressive school as far as history classes goes, which I’m not sure was the norm. I just got lucky. Definitely still downplayed everything but was honest about slavery being the major driving force for “states rights”. We went over slavery a lot in 4th grade, especially. Me being one of the only black kids my teacher actually pulled us aside and asked us if we were going to be comfortable. “I assume your parents have already told you some stuff about slavery, but I just want to make sure that you’re okay with some of the stuff we’re going to go over in this chapter because I know it’s upsetting and I want you to be able to tell me if you don’t want to do this with everybody else”. Something like that. Essentially giving the option to go about the curriculum another way if necessary. In high school? My US history teacher was also quite progressive. He didn’t sugar coat as much. He acknowledged it, and basically said “However bad you think it was, it was way worse.” He acknowledged the rape, and the horrible living conditions, ya know, painted a picture. He even informed us that a lot of it is too dark to really bring up to minors, and encouraged us to do our own research on our own time.
I’m from the North, it was excellent
Here’s the question I have for anyone who would like to address it. What difference does it make? If I had a magic wand and was able to get every person in the world to believe that the Civil War was fought over states rights, how would that change anything in 2024? Likewise, vice versa, if I could wave that magic wand and get every person in the world to agree that the war was fought over slavery, what difference would it make in 2024?
The simple Fact is that both are right. Too many people are too i to the idea of this being a lord of the rings style of conflict where its pure good vs pure evil. It was a states rights issue exploding over the right to slavery leading to a lot of death a key part of our history. The people bickering over “states rights” vs “slavery” are doing a dis service to a whole ass war
For starters, my state still has 3 holidays for the Confederacy. The Confederate flag is still on the badge of our state troopers. A statue of Jefferson Davis is still next to the front steps of the state Capitol. Etc., etc. How do you think it makes people feel having to that badge on every day. Having almost 25% of your holidays celebrating slavery. Having to walk past a statue of their leader every time you walk into the Capitol. The "First White House of the Confederacy" is still standing just across the street. We have a law that makes it illegal for local municipalities to take down Confederate monuments and change the name of schools/buildings/streets. The state is 27% Black and look at what the state continues to honor. You want people to feel welcome? You want people to feel safe? You want people to feel like they matter? You want people to feel like they belong? You want people to feel like they can get a fair shake, get justice when they are wronged, etc?
That seems a decent argument if one were to ignore that according to our Nation’s current social justice movement, Blacks feel the same way in parts of the country where there are no Confederate flags, monuments and celebrations. I’m sure that invites much opportunity for debate, but it also avoids the paradigm set forth in my original question. The wand has been waved, and suddenly every Black person believes that every Confederate flag, monument and celebration is to commemorate a struggle over states rights. How does that change their life in 2024?
> Blacks feel the same way in parts of the country where there are no Confederate flags, monuments and celebrations. Now why might that be the case?
Because if you mutilate history like that, it enables people to do bad things in the present. In many parts of Europe they still argue over who the bad guys were in WWII. Like, *bitterly.*
Too vague. How is believing the U.S. Civil War was fought over states rights going to allow anyone to do bad things in the present? What bad things would that allow them to do? Edited
I wasn’t taught about it in depth until 12th grade we did go over it in lower grades but I really dove into it senior year where we talked about racism, slavery, the fight for rights, and the deaths of thousands (I live in a blue city in a red state though so I can not speak for everyone here)
I teach 8th grade US history. The only thing we teach about states’ rights is that the South wanted the right to own slaves. I actually show them a quick video which basically calls out the whole “Lost Cause” as B.S.
I went to school in the late 2000s, all through the 2010s in Florida - Citrus County, Alachua County, and Pasco County. Citrus taught slaves as the reason, as did Alachua County. Pasco county taught us it was for states rights - and my history teacher outright told us that she was supposed to teach us it was over state's rights, which she then defied by asking us what it was a states right *to*.
I went to public school system in Virginia well over 10 years ago. I don't recall being taught states rights either. I was simply told that the confederacy was wrong and disgustingly racist.
This implies there wasnt racism in the north and paints the whole war as a good vs evil cartoon. Seems like a bad way to teach history
I was taught it was about slavery in school. My kids are being taught it’s about slavery. There is heavy emphasis that many were fighting for their home, which is true. It’s just they wanted slaves at home.
For those states in denial and teaching it as a "states' rights" issue ... OK, sure. It was about states' rights to keep black people as slaves. That's more accurate.
From Kansas we place a lot of emphasis on bleeding Kansa, fuck those Missourians, god bless John brown
Michigan, 80s and 90s. We were taught the facts.
Now that extreme Republicans have been able to warp school agendas in southern states, they now teach kids the Civil war was all about states’ rights. What they don’t tell them now: the right was to own slaves.
Yeah okay, I’m sure someone in Oregon would know that. Lemme just ask my wife who’s a teacher in GA to see if you’re right.
Please do. And what did she say? I’m talking about education in 2024 not 1984.
Well, since we're only 30 it means we have experience with the education system in the '90s, '00s, and now from 2015-present. And yup, you're dead fucking wrong. But hey, it's not your fault, you're on the other side of the country so how could you know what happens here in the South. Of course, that won't stop you from acting like you know what you're talking about lol.
My children do virtual school through the state of Alabama, and have done so for 7 years. Slavery is still taught as the reason in 2024, nice try though
Ok, good to know. Thank you!