why do folks in the south hold a 150+ year old grudge?

[jng]

My son, just got married to a beautiful lady from Georgia. (he is in the navy at Jacksville Fl).  At the wedding, her father made a slew
full of remarkes about bad mouthing the North?  Well, I just took it.  It's a wedding dude!  The man was very sincere. 
I talked to some friends and they have had the same experience, why?  We are americans! If they move to Ohio, all the folks would welcome them as a brother. My great-great grandfathers on my mother side came from France in the late 1850's.  They fought for thr north.  If they landed in the south, they would have fought for the south.  Hard to believe! Grandma's dad settled in Arkansas. 
Dad's folks came from Hungary after WW1. 
Why can't folk get over it?

[mechanic]

I'm hoping the guys remark were tongue in cheek or something of the sort.  While I don't agree with all the synopsis regarding the civil war, no one alive today caused it or fought in it.
 
Pass it over.  The old man is losing his daughter...a hard thing for a father, (been there twice), and not only that...to a YANKEE!    One of mine married a guy from, of all places, California!  We've got him about southernized now though!
 
Ben

[PowPow]

Some folks just look for stuff to fuss about.
You got off easy being from Ohio.
He'd a give it to you worse if you had told him you were a Crimson Tide or LSU fan.


I'm sure your son did well; Georgia produces some beautiful girls.
You'll never hear it, but that guy will be bragging about his son-in-law.

[Ranger99]

if anyone held a grudge here, it would
likely be because of the way folks were treated
during the so-called reconstruction period.
a lot of folks lost ancestral homes and lands
because of some corrupt appointed officials putting unfair tax
values on choice ranches and farmlands and
buying up properties or working in concert with
straw buyers. a lot of texas owned state land was sold
to railroads and other business interests and the
money was not turned into the public coffers.
a very large debt was piled up by the carpetbag
government here until texans regained voting rights
and put out the appointed carpetbag officials.
many had to literally be driven out of their former
offices at gunpoint, and there are some who
would not surrender public records or documents
except at gunpoint. a whole lot of looting and
thievery by folks who were supposed to be putting
the government infrastructure back on track.


this may be some of the reason.
myself, i don't really like to hear of how much
better things are "back home" but i don't apply
that toward folks from any particular region.
i just always ask when they are going back to
where things are so much better and not have to put
up with us hicks and our ways and do you need some gas
for your trip out ?


no real animosity from me or acquaintances toward
any particular group.

[bamaboy13]

lol, I'm a "Damn" yankee, I came from the north and never left 
I always say; Everyone is a joy, some a joy to see coming, others a joy to see leaving. "redneck" a-holes are anywhere you go 

[keith44]

+1 Ranger99 comments


locally I have noticed the families who fought for Southern independence do not even live in the same neighborhoods as those who fought to oppress the south through taxation without representation

[pastorp]

Your family would half to a lived in the south for several generations and grew up with the word of mouth history to understand. When your moma, grandmother, preacher, & everyone else important teaches you history it don't matter much what the textbooks say. 

So my northern friend, you can't understand. Just overlook us. 

[Buckskin]

Because they were on the losing end of it... Kinda like football. I don't have any real anomosity towards the Patriots or the Steeler, because the Packers beat them in the Super Bowl. But everytime I hear the words Denver Broncos my skin crawls.  Same thing, just different level.

[flintlock]

My family came here into Jamestown in 1635...Moved down into eastern NC in the early 1700s...Many sacrifices were made to settle this land and tame it...As mentioned, if you have a long history of being Southern it is not easy to just "blow it off"...
 
Many Southerners lost all or much of what they had...Look at Arlington Cemetary, it was Robert E. Lee's and was taken from him.....

[Oldshooter]

If they move to Ohio, all the folks would welcome them as a brother.

 
Maybe! I dont hear of many moving north much. Yankees would be and are welcomed in the south everyday. Seems all that hope and change is really changing things for the worse.     We just ask that your politics stay north of the mason dixon line. Your unions too!
 
I dont hold any grudge, my family didn't lose anyone that I can find. Lost some slaves when they were imancipated,( word of mouth, no paper trail) Still no hard feelings. 
 
I'm betting your inlaws just aint proud of their daughter marrying out of towners. Son in laws.................well they are son in laws. 

[45-70.gov]

because the yankkes keep on coming
they have ruined florida 
thys come here to get away from up there
corrupt local politics  and make us  into ''NEWWER ENGLAND''


but then who an i to talk....my moms a yankee
that makes me a half breed....dad was a son of the south

[SHOOTALL]

While working in Down Town Richmond about 30 years ago we were enjoying lunch on the sidewalk next to the jobsite. These two guys pull up in a very large black car with the AC on and windows rolled up. Thing is the sun roof was open    well it had New York plates and as they sat there looking at a map one said to the other roll the window down and ask one of those stupid rebels how to get to the hotel they were looking for. Since I was the closest I gave him directions that only took him 10-12 miles out of his way.
 In some places the war continues from both sides.  Shame really all them Yankees need to do is show respect .   

[Larry L]

Apparently you're not up on your history. The South was treated like a conquered nation. We had carpet baggers coming down here, being installed in Governmental positions and they pretty much raped the South. My GG Grand father was a Union Surgeon and lost everything he had as the North burned his plantation to the ground in Virginia. He came to Texas where he fought with the Confederacy. After the war he received financing from a Mexican family to buy drugs from Cuba to open a pharmacy in San Antonio. He no sooner received the drugs when the Union Army came in a took possession of it saying they needed it. They stole it as he was never paid for it but he had to pay the folks that financed the purchase. Stories like this were common as the North took what they wanted including crops, money, gold, anything of value and rode off. In a letter, my GG Grand Mother said she paid 5 dollars US for one piece of paper so she could write a letter as the North had taken everything. Considering that these were not poor people of the times, after the war, the Union and carper baggers had left this surgeon with debt, a chest of drawers, a pot, a skillet, and a bed made out of sticks. They lived in a makeshift leanto along side of a house that leaked rain and had no way to heat it. They rented this for 30 dollars a month as it was all that was available. My GG GRand Mother wrote about how she witnessed men dying in the streets from starvation as the Union Army took all the food. She witnessed men freeze to death in the bitter cold because the carpet baggers had confiscated the coats to send up North under the guise of a tax. You had to hide your food, your arms, your clothing or it was taken from you.
A people does not forget a scourging, and we in the South have fabulous memories.

[jng]

  Thank you for your replies.  Still I thought 1 or 2 were unique.  My folks from Hungary were raped pillaged and plunder by every
roving band from the east.  Grandpa had a distinct dislike for the Italians ( fought them in WW1).  But then that was his life.  I hold no grudge against the Khan's.  Would you? I sure was not along back then.
So there we are, holding folks now days, to sins of yesteryear.
Again thanks, just noesy.
p.s.  I must say, there sure seems something wrong with land if it doesn't have, hills or hard wood trees.

[RPRNY]

That's because the Confederacy was a conquered nation. It left the Union and, in firing on Ft Sumter, started a grizzly war. It conducted its own prominent atrocities and shameful mistreatment of POWs. What should it have expected in defeat?

To the victor go the spoils. Thus has it always been.

I don't know of Southerners being mistreated in the North by those aggrieved that their ancestors were killed having to fight a war to preserve the territorial integrity of the country (though I believe the Confederate States had the right to secede from the Union). And, given US demographics, most so called Yankees of today had no ancestors in the US during the War or Reconstruction for that matter (which may explain the general lack of Yankee grievance today). And Southern support for Democrats for 100 years after the war is responsible in large part for the mess we are on today, so don't stick that solely on the North.

Move on. Most so-called Yankees had no dog in that fight. Their ancestors were trying to get out of various and sundry European despotisms and make their way to the land of the Free and home of the Brave. Getting beat, taking it out on people whose ancestors weren't even in the country and shirking responsibility for 100 years of solid Democratic support is neither in keeping  with best traditions of the nation that emerged from that war nor those ascribed to the Confederacy.

[Oldshooter]

I must say, there sure seems something wrong with land if it doesn't have, hills or hard wood trees.

    If that means the South, you have been given bad information. Now the coasts are somewhat flat.  There are more hardwood trees in the south than you have been led to believe. A few hills to. Might wanna discuss hills with some folk in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Jawja. Heck we have some in Texas as well, we even have Mountains. We rarely let any yankees see em though! 

[Gatofeo]

My loyalties are with the North. I was born and raised in Washington State. Years ago, an Air Force friend from Florida was going on about the Yankees, so I commented, "I guess I'm one, then."
"Where you from?" he shot back.
"Washington state, I said.
"Aw hell, you're not a Yankee! Yankees are from New York and Jersey and Vermont and places like that! You're not a Yankee to us!"
Yet, I've been told otherwise since, by southerners.
I still believe that the South was egregiously wrong, and the North had a right an obligation to oppose the south's efforts to secede. I just wish that so many hotheads on BOTH sides had tried to work out their differences peaceably, resulting in the dissolution of slavery. Perhaps a compromise could have been reached, by providing the south with technological advances as it weaned itself from slavery.
"States' Rights" was all about the right to own another human being, despite what southern revisionists claim today (and then, for that matter).
Slavery is an abomination. It's not opposed in the Bible -- more proof of the fallibility of that collection of letters, tales, books and other documents.
The war of Northern aggression? More like the war of southern treason. But then, the founding fathers were traitors to their country (England), since they were British citizens while they tried to overthrow the ruling government. Thankfully, the treason of 1776 succeeded -- and equally thankfully, the south didn't win.

[Larry L]

[size=0px]"States' Rights" was all about the right to own another human being[/size]

You need desperately to go back to school. The North wanted to unfairly tax cotton to bring the Southern States under control. Slavery was not the reason for the Civil War. The war started April 12, 1861. It had gone on for 2 years and Lincoln was having issues with money- there were no taxes paying for the war. It was paid for by donations of industrialist for the most part. It wasn't until January 1863 that Emancipation Proclamation came to be and even at that, Lincoln did not believe that all slaves were to be free. He was using the slaves as a tool to raise more money. He wanted the slaves freed in only the Southern States. States that were friendly to the Union were not to be effected.


http://www.history.com/news/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-lincoln-slavery-and-emancipation


Just as it is today, the Feds were reaching far beyond the limits of the Founding Fathers Government. There was no equality and the Southern States were being hammered by the Republicans of the day. It was about control, not the issues that were presented.....just like gun control is today. The Southern States decided they had enough of the English 75 years previously and now the Yankees. The fight was on.....just like it will be in the future if the dam yankees don't get out of our lives and learn to read and understand the Constitution.

[SHOOTALL]

The North wanted to tax raw materials in an effort to slow export of goods they wanted at a better price SO they could be more competitive off shore. They also wanted to burden the South with paying for the war of 1812 which still had not been paid off .
 One has to ask the northern people who always bring up slavery to defend the attack on the South if in fact slavery was the point of the war why did Lincoln wait to free the slaves until well into the war ? Why did he wait until the English and French seem ready to enter helping the South ? But maybe more important why did he not free the northern slaves at the same time he freed the Southern slaves ? You northerners do realize the Mason/Dixon line is well into north right ?
 I think a better answer to the OP's ? is the north seem to like Federal govt power where the South seem to like state control. This seems true today as much as ever. The north seems to like unions where the South likes right to work. Of course there are pockets of both in the others area but not enough to dilute the norm. It seems those in the north want to be guided , follow the crowd where Us in the South like to strike out on our own. Do like being told what to do.
 But the biggest conflict is someone from the north telling us "this is how we do it up north" Down here in the South we just don't care how you did it up north . And that upsets ya'll.

[Ranger99]

i wouldn't lose too much sleep over this.
i think somebody has already posted that
there are a-holes everywhere, born in every
spot in  the world, wearing every kind of clothing,
with every kind of face.
and like i had wrote, if somebody doesn't like
the people and ways of a region, don't go there.

[Dixie Dude]

Here is how close that 150 year history is.  My Grandparents told me stories about their grandparents who lived through and after the Civil War.  So the history isn't too far removed.  These are personal stories that aren't in the history books. 
 
The border states were already experimenting with "share cropping" as a way to free the slaves, yet still use the labor at the lowest cost possible. 
 
There were hot heads on BOTH sides.  The followers of John Brown were pushing hard to force free the slaves.  There were taxes leved on imports and exports, especially of cotton.  The government only had import-export taxes to rely on for revenue.  There were no income taxes at that time, nor sales taxes.  Only property taxes leved at the state and local level for their revenue.  The congress passed an exorbant import-export tax and had forts built along the coastal cities to collect these taxes (thus the attack on Ft. Sumpter).
 
Had cooler heads prevailed, the tax would have been lower as well as expanding the "share cropping" idea.
 
The GDP of Georgia was one of the highest in the nation in 1860 and it wasn't until the 1960's did it get back to the same level after the war.  Over 100 years of struggle and poverty to get back to the same precentage standard of living.   

[BBF]

Larry L
That is the reality of WAR. The side that wins, takes what they want and writes the history text.
 
My ancestors had that expierence twice in one Generation.
 
BTW For one of the other Posters. There is no such thing as a British citizen, they are  called Subjects.

[Duke0313]

You think it's bad in Georgia...try coming to TEXAS....we even look down on other folks from the South. That being said, it ain't the "invaders" from up North that I worry about. It's the ones from Wa-a-a-ay down south that give me the worries.

[hunt-m-up]

The North wanted to tax raw materials in an effort to slow export of goods they wanted at a better price SO they could be more competitive off shore. They also wanted to burden the South with paying for the war of 1812 which still had not been paid off .
 One has to ask the northern people who always bring up slavery to defend the attack on the South if in fact slavery was the point of the war why did Lincoln wait to free the slaves until well into the war ? Why did he wait until the English and French seem ready to enter helping the South ? But maybe more important why did he not free the northern slaves at the same time he freed the Southern slaves ? You northerners do realize the Mason/Dixon line is well into north right ?
 I think a better answer to the OP's ? is the north seem to like Federal govt power where the South seem to like state control. This seems true today as much as ever. The north seems to like unions where the South likes right to work. Of course there are pockets of both in the others area but not enough to dilute the norm. It seems those in the north want to be guided , follow the crowd where Us in the South like to strike out on our own. Do like being told what to do.
 But the biggest conflict is someone from the north telling us "this is how we do it up north" Down here in the South we just don't care how you did it up north . And that upsets ya'll.

I don't completely understand the sentiments regarding the Civil War and never will as my ancestors came from Germany in the 1880's. However the last part of your statement is full of false generalizations, I'm betting there are per capita more people on the public teat in Atlanta than there are in my part of the world up "North".  I'm going to go sit out on the front porch now and look for someone to stop by to offer guidance...

[wncchester]

"lol, I'm a "Damn" yankee, "
 
First, damnyankee is one word, not two.

Second, not all northerners are damnyankees; northerners tend to be nice people.   
 
Three, in my 73 years of life, I've observed that damnyankees are twenty times more likely to think of or raise the issue of the War of Northern Agression than any southerner.
 
Forth, no one cares for loud mouth, ignorant 'know it all', crude, rude and arrogant to the bone damnyankees, including most northerners; and it has little to do with the war.  I have several very close (ex) northern friends who hate damnyankees more than most southerners.   

 
Damnyankees are a PITA everywhere they go, including NYC.  It's not southerners who tell old vets they can't fly a Flag in their yard or to give up their guns to "send a message" to bad guys, or to hug a queer a day or let's all pay more taxes and give more power to gobbermint and home owner associations, etc.  ALL of that mindset comes from people who talk fast and sound funny!  (youse guys poc de ca...whilst I ga vote Demmycrat.)

[keith44]

"lol, I'm a "Damn" yankee, "
 
First, damnyankee is one word, not two. No Sir, Damned Yankee is most certainly two words.

Second, not all northerners are damnyankees; northerners tend to be nice people.    hmm maybe so...
 
Three, in my 73 years of life, I've observed that damnyankees are twenty times more likely to think of or raise the issue of the War of Northern Agression than any southerner.
 
Forth, no one cares for loud mouth, ignorant 'know it all', crude, rude and arrogant to the bone damnyankees, including most northerners; and it has little to do with the war.  I have several very close (ex) northern friends who hate damnyankees more than most southerners.   Agreed

 
Damnyankees are a PITA everywhere they go, including NYC.  It's not southerners who tell old vets they can't fly a Flag in their yard or to give up their guns to "send a message" to bad guys, or to hug a queer a day or let's all pay more taxes and give more power to gobbermint and home owner associations, etc.  ALL of that mindset comes from people who talk fast and sound funny!  (youse guys poc de ca...whilst I ga vote Demmycrat.) Yes sir

[SHOOTALL]

150+ year grudge , Hum, No need for that when many Yankees give reason to start a new one daily .......  

[LONGTOM]

Well boys let me tell you this about the WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.
I am from what many call the center of this war.
VIRGINIA, the nortern part of the SHENANDOAH VALLEY where much of the fighting took place.
The valley took the lions share of the blunt of the Norths invasion.
Just about all who lived here lost all they had including their families.
Our family was considered to be on the poor side money wise.
We were rich in land but that was about all.
We really didn't have slaves.
I guess you could call them share croppers although we didn't really share crops with the blacks.
Instead, our family gave them land of their own to keep and farm if they would help work our farm with us.
I am not saying that way farther back in history we may not have owned slaves but mostly our family didn't like the idea of owning someone.
Move on to the war.
We were caught up in it when the north came through and took about all we had except the farm.
They tried to free our slaves even though they were not slaves.
They even tried to tell them that they were free and it was their land they were working but the north still forced them off and took whatever they had also.
Our family took up arms against the north because we felt they had outright stolen from us what was rightfully ours and for no other reason.
By the wars end we had lost everything we owned except our land.
All the buildings had been burnt to the ground by Sherman on his march through the south.
A large part of our family were killed at places I don't even know.
Some at CEDAR CREEK, just a few miles from my house.
Some in the three battles of  WINCHESTER, our home town, one at SHARPSBURG MARYLAND, another on a lonely road at night after the war had ended by Northern troops from mistaken identity.
I don't hate the north but I do hate what they did to our family over something we had nothing to do with and most likely would have stayed neutrail had they just left us alone.
We tended to mind our own business but if you mess with us we will take a stand.
I still feel that way today.
That is why you hear me talk so down on our current leaders in DC.
THE LIAR IN THE WHITEHOUSE is basically doing some of the same things the north did during the war.
Forcing us to adhere to things that we have no controll over nor do we believe in.
Both sides can make a pretty good argument over the cause of the WAR BETWEEN THE STATES and to a point, both sides would be right but for me it is solely for my southern heritage that I feel the way I do.
I could get into a very heated debate with a few of you here over this thread but we are all GBO friends so I won't go there out of respect for all concerned.
To sum it up I will finish with this quote from a movie I once watched, "WE DID IT FOR DIXIE, and NOTHING MORE" !!!
 
 
LONGTOM

[RPRNY]

I must again address the revisionist attempts of our southern friends. It is you who are in large part responsible for the rapacious Federal liberalism that you seem to protest. The term "the Solid South " refers to the fact that from Reconstruction (or continued destruction if you prefer) through the late 1960s and into the 70s, the South voted overwhelmingly Democrat. As ye have sown, so now we reap. Let me remind you of our southern Presidents since WWII : Lyndon Johnson, author of "the Great Society " profane and massive expansion of the welfare State. Jimmy Carter. A man that can almost make our current President look good. Bill Clinton. He may not look so badnin retrospect but he gave us "Don't Ask,  Don't. Tell " and the original AWB. Where are these Conservatives and Libertarians that you say exist?

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[Oldshooter]

I must again address the revisionist attempts of our southern friends. It is you who are in large part responsible for the rapacious Federal liberalism that you seem to protest. The term "the Solid South " refers to the fact that from Reconstruction (or continued destruction if you prefer) through the late 1960s and into the 70s, the South voted overwhelmingly Democrat. As ye have sown, so now we reap. Let me remind you of our southern Presidents since WWII : Lyndon Johnson, author of "the Great Society " profane and massive expansion of the welfare State. Jimmy Carter. A man that can almost make our current President look good. Bill Clinton. He may not look so badnin retrospect but he gave us "Don't Ask,  Don't. Tell " and the original AWB. Where are these Conservatives and Libertarians that you say exist?

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

Sir! dont be confusing the issue with facts! We're mad as hell and we're likely to stay that way!