Argument:
"The Confederacy committed treason when it seceeded from and fought against the Union. Why should we tolerate the symbols that serve to glorify this treasonous regime?"

Similar arguments have been used for centuries when one regime seeks to purge the symbols of a previous civilization. In Russia, "the urge to purge" was all powerful as communist extremists, first under Lenin and then Stalin began renaming, in their own honor, towns, cities, streets, and other historic landmarks.Old monuments and memorials were destroyed and new ones took their place. For example, St. Petersburg, the beautiful seaport city named after Saint Peter, was renamed Leningrad. Statues of Lenin began to replace the previous statues that honored religious deities or the royal families, whose leadership originally brought Russian to the brink of greatness, only to see it destroyed by communism and left wing political ideology. Under Stalin, more pagan self-worship was evident as the city of Volgograd was renamed Stalingrad. Mount Communism became Stalin Peak and so on, until all traces of previous greatness were wiped clean or unrecognizable.

The charge of treason, against Southern states who sought only their freedom, is an old charge that was settled long ago. It was taken from the "trunk of tyranny" and dusted off for presentation only when it became evident that current arguments for removing Confederate symbols were failing to convince the majority of Americans. The charge of treason was proven false over 130 years ago, and if necessary, it will be proven so again.

The great emotions which engulfed the participants in the War for Southern Independence can only be understood from their vantage point. Those alive in 1861 were the grandchildren of the men and women of the American Revolution. They were the recipients of the stories and lore of the fight for independence as told by their aging grandfathers. They named their children for Washington, Jefferson, Henry and the other patriots.

When issues again caused serious citizens to consider a new declaration of independence, there was not a man alive who did not believe in the words of the original Declaration of Independence, that a people had a God given right to throw off a government that they believed oppressive. The spirit with which Southerners decided to declare independence in 1860 and 1861 was the same as that which led to the break with Britain in 1775.

On January 12, 1848, Abraham Lincoln fro Illinois, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, spoke openly of a state's right to seceed, declaring "Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better ... This most sacred right, a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world." Many northern leaders also advocated the rights of secession even though they would later fight a war to prevent the Southern states from exercising those rights.

With due credit, President Abraham Lincoln made no pretense that his actions in invading the Confederate States of America were legal, constitutional, or even right, for that matter. He simply believed that he must prevent the formation of a new and powerful nation to his Southern border. Lincoln sought to preserve "his view" of the Union. After his victory over the South, there were no treason trials, even though some radicals in Congress wanted them.

Jefferson Davis had served as a U.S. Senator for many years and as Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce before becoming the President of the Confederate States of America. After the war's end, former Confederate President Jefferson Davis was found and arrested in South Georgia on May 10, 1865. Lincoln had already been assassinated on April 14 and the north was driven crazy with hatred for the South, demanding Davis' head on a platter.

Held illegally in a military prison for several years, Davis was charge but never tried for treason. The U.S. Supreme Court simply refused to sanction it. They knew that what the Southern states did was not treason, but an attempt to exercise their constitutional rights. If Jefferson Davis were brought to trial, it would only serve to prove the South's innocence and the north's guilt. While imprisoned, support for Davis poured in from all over the world. From the Vatican, Pope Pius IX sent Davis a "Crown of Thorns" made with his own hands, to symbolize Davis' sacrifice for the cause of freedom. This crown can be seen today on display at the Confederate Museum in New Orleans.

This whole "treason" affair had be come and embarrassment to the north, so Jefferson Davis was finally released on May 11, 1867. He passed into immortality on December 6, 1889. No one in the Confederacy was ever convicted on charges of treason against the United States. It was determined, that Man's quest for freedom was not treason in 1865, and these writers believe that most Americans feel the same today.