The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-06
UNITED DAUGHTERS
 OF THE CONFEDERACY

OUNkEUENAOIs>E \ ' sx~axzzxxxxx~xS*x*x*@*xxxxs | brighter unto the perfect day. {
 There was no lust of power, or thought cf conquest, or desire for aggrandizement,
 or purpose of aggression. or dissatisfac- ton with existing conditions. that entered
 into the motives of the Southern people when they formed the Southern Confed-
 esatiSn era % of States. They did not oppose
 or the laws. and did not seek to change
 of Northern states whose cor1pact was proclaimed in articles that were approved ton, and was as fixed in its purpose as
 IT 1t had been adopted by the decree of | constitutional in each of those States.
 ns @ e Of rss IT
 ical equality with the white race. The contemplated result also included, neces-
 sariiy. the removal of all legal barriers l pledged the support of the Northern con federation to Its accomplishment. e The political party. placed by that elec-
 Federai Government. assumed that it rep resented the entire Union, and that op- position to its declared policy was oppo- sition to the Union, the, Constitution. and Having the political power to force the issue into this shape, that party declared that resistance to its decree was antago- nism to the Unlion, the Consultation, the A false issue, thus favored by the power and prestige of dominant polit- ical party inflicted upon the States that stood for the rights of their people. the opprobium of treason to the Constitution and the Union, and compelled them to | resist aggression. under the imputation
 of being the enemies of the Consultation This false issue was accepted by the South as the only reason of defining the antagonism of the Southern people to
 Union into a confederstion of oppression through abused power, and in defiance of the Constitution.
 It was the Union. thus perverted. from which the Southern States withdrew, and
 not from the Union as established in the Constitution.
 The ordinances of secession were treat ed as the overt act that established the they mark the period of belligerency be-
 War was not declared. but after s.,,,,. 2 brief . was accepted by both sides. as a civil war between the two considerations or the States
 This was the general attitude of the ments retained their authority over the people, as sovereign States. The war ceased and the States remained, with Cn2nkGS eral Government, except such as related to the negro race. Thus It's purpose was made clear. If other questions had been decided by the war. they should have was, by amendments of the Constitution
 In these amendments. therefore the purposes of the war were denneG, ana of Congress, and of two-thirds of the sovereign States of the Union.
 Of the generations that fought and suf- fered in that war. not one soul was re- sponsible for the introduction Of slavery into the United States.
 They found 1t here recognized and pro- tected in all the States and Territories where t existed; by express guaranteess ,srasa es the Northern movement was to abolish all property rights in slaves. without compensation. ; result was Justified, 1t was manifest that 1t could not be accomplsed without the shedding of the blood of many thousands 'of men; and as it required four-hftns s two-thirds of the States to change the
 Constitution so IS to strike out those provisions, and to abrogate the decisions it was, at least, just that Congress should have proposed such changes.
 This was not done. nor was It attempt ed in Congress; but ,.higher law party down the rights of the people of the [ South. and if that should be met by an k&sfoFtto escape from their power, it would be denounced and resisted as an attempt to destroy the Constitution and the Union 1t created.
 Justice will never approve that abuse of power. As to the question whether
 the morality of the national character required the Constitution to be abandon
 ed. it was a demand made by those who had encouraged slavery so long as 1t was profitable to them; had tolerated it after
 diGnnGinO nf their GlQVea hv aalA tO the Southern people, when 1t was necessary to the formation of the Union that the
 South should have express guarantees
 Justice never lifts its sword against an
 alleged criminal. at the bidding of a con- federate in the crime.
 It was not the sword of justice that
 The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution embody the full purpose and the whole result or tn aggression of the compact of the Northern States against the Confederacy of the Southern States. and justice to the property rights, the guaranteed consti- tutional right, the political rights. the people of the South was absent from the intention of the aggressors. and was crushed in the avalanche of wrongs they heaped upon an innocent and unoffending people.
 The South has shown that it can rise above the destruction of its wealth and the desolatton of its fields Of production. It has demonstrated it's fidelity to the Union and to the honor of its flag. even when its service to the country is ac- 1 cepted as tribute. rather than as the | voluntary and patriotic contribution of | sovereign and equal States. But 1t has l not been able to lift the burden of negro l equality in social and political conditions, | and 1t may yet sink under this racial | degradation.
 If the South is ever restored to it's equal | inheritance in the blessings that the | founders of the republic declared were | secured by the Constitution to "our- l selves and our posterity.' there is but one | mortal hand that can lift them again to | that proud eminence. It Is the hand of |
 The honorable effort to do justice to | the sentiment that filled the graves over | which the Daughters of the Confderacy l will erect modest shaft in Huntsville, 1 is to be another light in the Armament of | historical splendors that shine out of the | darkness and make up the record of the | only struggle that was ever made under l the banners of great armies to prevent l rights and the copsanguinity of a supe- l rior race.
 This duty. with it's sacrincial sufferings | and honors. was reserved alone to the l people of the Southern States. That if | was imposed upon them by men of the | same blood and kindred is only another |