Remember our Fallen Forefathers on this July 4th Anniversary of Vicksburg and Gettysburg

As we celebrate July 4th and the founding of our great nation in 1776 by the Declaration of Independence, we should also remember the Sesquicentennial of the Siege of Vicksburg and the Battle of Gettysburg today.  Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was repulsed as they attempted to gain a military victory deep in Union territory in order to force Lincoln to negotiate a peace and simultaneously the fall of Vicksburg crippled the Confederacy's Mississippi River lifeline.  The Confederacy would not recover from these dual blows but they struggled on for nearly two more years to thwart the Yankee onslaught and protect their homeland and their newly formed constitutional republic. Gettysburg is planning huge events to commemorate this anniversary and the Sons of Confederate Veterans is holding their annual convention in Vicksburg in just two weeks time.  But while July 4th is celebrated for the founding of the United States of America and the promise of liberty and freedom our founding father's sought and fought for, the Sesquicentennial of Gettysburg and Vicksburg may be solemnly recognized as the fateful beginning of the end for the Confederacy whereby Lincoln and his Union federalists established sectional superiority by force and henceforth a more centralized form of government which has effectively robbed us of our rights and liberties even unto today.

The June 28th edition of the Montgomery Advertiser contained a letter to the editor from Roger Broxton, President of the Confederate Heritage Fund:

Sacrifices of Confederate veterans not forgotten 

The 150 year anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg re­minds us of the sacrifices made by our Confederate vet­erans in self-defense of the voluntary union of “indepen­dent states,” promised three times in the Declaration of Independence of 1776.

We also remember that Abraham Lincoln and the fed­eral government declared they supported permanent slavery in the United States and that the war was fought only to collect a new 40 percent feder­al sales tax from Southerners under the Morrill Tariff Act.

Lincoln explained in his first inaugural speech, March 4, 1861: “I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution has passed Congress (March 2, 1861), to the effect that the federal government shall nev­er interfere with the domestic institutions of the states, in­cluding that of persons held to service. Holding such a provi­sion to now be implied consti­tutional law, I have no objec­tion to its being made express and irrevocable.” (Paragraph 32) Lincoln declared in his first message to the U.S. Congress (July 4, 1861): “My policy sought only to hold the public places and property (Four federal tax collection forts like Sumter) not already wrested from the government and to collect the revenue (taxes).” (Paragraph 5)