Should confederate monuments be removed?

Confederate monuments are a representation of slavery

Question: Should confederate monuments be removed?
Position1 of 2›: Yes, confederate monuments should be removed
Argument1 of 2›: Confederate monuments are a representation of slavery

Slavery was a horrible time in history. It was a time where people were abused and deprived of their human rights.

The argument

Confederate monuments represent and celebrate slavery. In the south, slavery was a way of life that gave provision for plantations. However, slaves were property and were often abused. They didn’t have the right to read or write, and they could be sold no matter what age or what family they would leave behind, leading to intense heartbreak. During the Civil War, the northern states (the Union) fought the southern states (the Confederates) for the rights of enslaved individuals and to unite the States again. Thankfully, by the end of the war, slavery was illegal. Leaving behind the remnants of a bitter past rooted in abuse and pain is a slap in the face of the human rights America strives for today.

Premises

[P1]Confederate monuments represent and celebrate a Southern way of life built on slavery, in which enslaved people were treated as property, denied literacy, abused, and separated from families. [P2] The Union fought the Confederacy to end that system, and keeping its monuments preserves remnants of a past rooted in abuse that contradicts the human rights America now strives for. [C] Therefore, because they represent slavery, confederate monuments should be removed.

Counter-arguments

Slavery is unconstitutional and the monuments aren’t going to spur people to try and make people slaves in America again. They pose no harm. They should be looked as part of our history no matter how painful it is.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Slavery is part of American history, like it or not. Getting rid of monuments will not change this.