Amen

Matt Yglesias writes:

The South in the late nineteenth century was a region that heartily deserved to be subjected to some hostile sentiments. Nothing pissed me off more than my high school history textbook’s many disparaging references to these insidious “radical Republicans” in the late-1860s and 1870s who had all these nutty ideas like “black people should vote” and “treason should be punished.” I’ll even go whole hog and say that if Andrew Johnson had been removed from office we’d be living in a better world.

I believe that this is STILL taught in junior high and high school history classes. Given the control that local boards have over content, and the efforts that conservatives have taken to seize those boards, it’s unlikely this will ever change. Also, the Civil War was fought over “economic differences” between the North and South.