US Congress outlaws stars and bars?

Eurofed

Banned
Stick it in the 14th amendment.

Yes. A PoD might add a provision in the 14th Amendment that empowers the Congress to forbid and punish public and overt shows of allegiance to foreign enemies, rebellion, and insurrection. The courts would surely construct this to affirm statutes that forbid the public display of CSA flags.

A possible PoD: the Booth associate that was charged to kill Johnson succeeds. The twin assassination of POTUS and VPOTUS angers the North in supporting a harsher and longer Reconstruction, with more decisive military and legislative suppression of Southern revanchism and segregationism, and a broader and harsher 14th Amendment (which in addition to harsher sanctions agianst shows of support for enemies of the US gives stronger federal protection of civil rights against states' encroachment). While this has the dark side that sectionalism animosity and antagonism would linger longer, and an exception to the First Amendment would be enshrined in the Constitution (which would make the life of antiwar protesters more difficult in the 20th century: waving the flags of North Vietnam or the Vietcong during the Vietnam War would be a felony, and it is quite possible that the courts could construct flag-burning itself not to be protected by the 1st), it is the bright side that racial segregation would be butterflied away or greately diminished, and a stronger, broader 14th could be easily construed to protect all kinds of civil rights that IOTL have not been so or only later.
 
I have never seen any evidence of Blacks liking the Confderate flag

Today, any display of the confederate battle flag is taken as racist, unless it is done in a distinctly historical context. I'm sure the KKK has a long history of embracing that symbol, but for most Americans not faced with local klan activity, the flag was generally regarded as primarily a symbol of geographic identity until the eighties. OK, that's nearly 30 years ago and modern civil rights is only modern 45 years old. The notion that the flag says "racism first" might have been de-fused in the sixties or seventies, but not today.

If racists want to display it, so what. They might be sorry when their picture shows up on the Internet and is evaluated by a prospective employer.
 
What we should remember is that the Confederate battle flag, until the 1980's, was largely regarded a geographic symbol as opposed to one of racism, segregation and slavery. As a geographic/regional symbol, it represented a part of the US with a rather large black population.

I don't know that American blacks in the South have ever adopted the Confederate battle flag as their own, sorry. If we're simply saying that the Confederate battle flag was the geographic symbol of white southerners, then we're back to racism, segregation and slavery, all of which existed well before the 1980's.

I dunno about the 'increasing southern resentment' thing. Doubtful.
 
...and modern civil rights is only modern 45 years old. ...

What the heck?

There was an active civil rights movement prior to 1963. You can trace significant historical continuity back through the 50's, the 40's, all the way back to the 19th century.
 
What the heck?

There was an active civil rights movement prior to 1963. You can trace significant historical continuity back through the 50's, the 40's, all the way back to the 19th century.

I did not say the civil rights movement only goes back to the sixties, as it existed for decades earlier. I said civil rights, as in the 24th Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, enacted July 1, and the Voting Rights Act enacted in 1965, became law in the mid sixties. Dr. M.L. King's Dream Speech in August, 1963 was regarded as the point that ignited civil rights from an idealistic movement to something that produced real change.
 
I think to many a young person the true meaning of things like the battle flag are similar to that of the iconic photograph of Che Guevara... It looks cool but they have no clue of what its all about, which is a shame.
 
As others said, a Supreme Court will strike the law down eventually.

I, for one, despise the use of the Confederate battle flag or any similar flag. It is a symbol of a time when some Americans tried to preserve slavery, no matter what silly arguments are tossed into the mix afterward (regionalism, state's rights, etc).
 
I, for one, despise the use of the Confederate battle flag or any similar flag. It is a symbol of a time when some Americans tried to preserve slavery, no matter what silly arguments are tossed into the mix afterward (regionalism, state's rights, etc).

First of all, there will not be a ban on the Confederate battle flag. And I don't think it is proper to cover up history. I heard that German train schedules from the thirties are being reprinted for nostalgic purposes, but with the swastikas removed. Such tactics are reminiscent of an Orwellian mask.

But the battle flag's primary image of slavery/racism vs. regionalism did not become prominent until after the civil rights legislation of the 1960's. We forget that during the civil war, many slaves fought for the South. We forget that more people endured more years of slavery under the US flag than the Confederate flag, yet there is no push to condemn US flags with 32 or fewer stars. We forget that there were actually black slave owners.

Had history gone differently in the sixties, the Confederate battle flag might have been regarded as the symbol of the war that ended slavery. I am not talking about upsetting anybody's human rights, I am talking about symbolism. We can not hide from the past any more than we can deny the Nazi Holocaust.
 
1. But the battle flag's primary image of slavery/racism vs. regionalism did not become prominent until after the civil rights legislation of the 1960's.

2. We forget that during the civil war, many slaves fought for the South.

3. Had history gone differently in the sixties, the Confederate battle flag might have been regarded as the symbol of the war that ended slavery..

1. Nonsense. The Klan was widely using the CSA flag as early as the late 1940s.

And the original KKK members widely revered the CSA and its symbols, since nearly all were ex CSA insurgents.

2. "Many"? Nonsense. They numbered less than 100, were mostly used as hospital orderlies, and were only deployed in the desperate last two months of the war.

3. I have no idea how what you claim here could've happened.
 
1. Nonsense. The Klan was widely using the CSA flag as early as the late 1940s.

The fact that the KKK espoused the CSA flag does not give them exclusive control. Others would use the US flag along with a position that denies human rights to minorities. But the civil rights movement in 1963 had priorities far above flags and symbols, as well stated:

We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.” Dr. Martin Luther King, August 28, 1963

Racial segregation was preventing millions from voting, getting food, and finding housing. The flags were simply part of the geography.

3. I have no idea how what you claim here could've happened.
That's the point of AH. I did not say how likely. Suppose a member of the NAACP puts together a collage of flags in 1968, including the US, CSA and various state flags with a label: "Equality at last."

And the original KKK members widely revered the CSA and its symbols, since nearly all were ex CSA insurgents.
And the original KKK was founded to drive out northern carpetbaggers (note the white face on the cartoon below). The name was thought up by CSA veterans who were college students, using Greek based words. The name caught on and was used by many non-affiliated vigilante groups intent on terrorizing the ex-slaves.

Picture 4.png
 

Tom Kalbfus

Banned
1. Nonsense. The Klan was widely using the CSA flag as early as the late 1940s.

And the original KKK members widely revered the CSA and its symbols, since nearly all were ex CSA insurgents.

2. "Many"? Nonsense. They numbered less than 100, were mostly used as hospital orderlies, and were only deployed in the desperate last two months of the war.

3. I have no idea how what you claim here could've happened.
It doesn't matter, a violation of the first amendment is a violation of the first amendment, and if the first amendment is violated then it leaves the door open to further censorship and the destruction of our liberties, it wouldn't be the first time well meaning liberals have opened the doors to a police state, that was what Communism was all about after all.
 
That would be a violation of the First Amendment.

But would this really matter in the climate of 1865? Lots of things happened during the Civil War and in Reconstruction which were violations of more than one of the Bill of Rights. The southern states had just been defeated after four years and hundreds or thousands of US lives. To most northerners, confederate symbols were symbols of treason. Had southern resistence to the initial acts of Reconstruction been more widespread or more violent, I could easily imagine an amendment added to the constitution specifically making Confederate flags and symbols illegal. I don't think this would necessarily open the gates to criminalizing other forms of political expression.
 

Eurofed

Banned
I could easily imagine an amendment added to the constitution specifically making Confederate flags and symbols illegal. I don't think this would necessarily open the gates to criminalizing other forms of political expression.

True, but in all likelihood the ban would also include the flags and symbols of enemy foreign states, to make a coherent standard.
 
Had southern resistence to the initial acts of Reconstruction been more widespread or more violent, I could easily imagine an amendment added to the constitution specifically making Confederate flags and symbols illegal.

There is no precedent for such control. The British and Mexican flags were not outlawed after earlier wars. If anything, it might be an act of congress that would eventually be struck down by the supreme court. Besides, the media access was very limited, particularly with respect to illustrations.

Northerners would not want their "war souvenirs" outlawed.
 

Eurofed

Banned
There is no precedent for such control. The British and Mexican flags were not outlawed after earlier wars. If anything, it might be an act of congress that would eventually be struck down by the supreme court. Besides, the media access was very limited, particularly with respect to illustrations.

Northerners would not want their "war souvenirs" outlawed.

Actually this problem is rather easy to circumvent when this part of the *14th is written. It does not ban simple ownership, it empowers Congress to ban "overt displays of allegiance" to "flags or symbols of rebellion, insurrection, or enemy states".

This way it is not illegal for a museum or collector to own Stars and Bars, or the Iraqi flag during or after the Gulf War, but waving them during a political manifestation, or displaying it on your car or window is outlawed.
 
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