From what I've read about the American civil war is that all historians agree that the rebellion was about the right to hold slaves. The argument about federalisim is a narrative constructed afterwards to evoke sympathy for the rebels.

If not those who use the phase - and have been using it in exactly the same way for decades - can decide what it means, then who can? Should we apply the same argument to "pro choice" and agreee that that it is a call for premediated murder of infants because that is what the "pro life" crowd thinks?

> From what I've read about the American civil war is that all historians agree that the rebellion was about the right to hold slaves. The argument about federalisim is a narrative constructed afterwards to evoke sympathy for the rebels.

People often say this but I see no contradiction between the American Civil War being about slavery and it being about states' rights. It was about the states' rights to own slaves!

That aside, the idea that "all historians agree" is absurd.

Sure slavery and racism is a huge part of it, but don't forget it's called 'the confederacy'. You can't claim this is constructed afterwards when it's plainly in the name