Lincoln expert Tom DiLorenzo refuses to use the standard Yankee term “Civil War”. He usually calls it The War to Prevent Southern Independence, but has also used The War for Southern Independence on occasion.
This article by Southron Joseph Cole explains:
The American War of 1861-1865 has been referred to by numerous different names:
The War of the Rebellion – the official US government name during the war.
The War of Insurrection – another popular Yankee name. Lincoln frequently referred to the “insurrection”.
The Civil War – the most well known and continuously used. By most Southrons the War is referred to as the either The War for Southern Independence or The War of Northern Aggression. As a compromise, the term War Between The States is often used.
As the author points out, the first three names are inappropriate because the CSA “was a legally established government representing the interests of several sovereign states which had legally seceded from a voluntary alliance with several other sovereign states known as the United States of America. Secession from the USA was not made illegal until after the war.” The term “The War Between the States” is also incorrect since the war was fought between the CSA and the USA, which were alliances of independent sovereign states; the war “was not fought between the individual states, i.e. Virginia was not at war with New York, Pennsylvania was not at war with Florida, etc.”
Cole says The War for Southern Independence is correct if, but it implies “that the Confederacy started the war, in order to achieve independence, which it did not.” He also believes that The War of Northern Aggression is also correct, since the USA attacked the CSA. “However, this implies that the Southern States were just the hapless victims. While they were victims of a criminal attack, the cost to the attackers for their subjugation was very high. This cost was not just the human casualties of war, but the destruction of the American culture, way of life, and the loss many of the basic freedoms previously guarantied by the US Constitution.”
Therefore, Cole prefers the term “War for Southern Independence.”
Myself, I prefer, Clyde Wilson’s term War to Prevent Southern Independence, as DiLorenzo also seems to. War for Southern Independence does make it sound as if we started the war to obtain independence. But this is not true. First we seceded, which gave us independence. The North attacked us to prevent this.
If there are any other good alternative labels I’ve missed, send ’em on…. stephan – at – kinsellalaw dot com.
11:08 am on September 15, 2004
