What is your opinion on Civil War History month in Virginia?

Contrary to what passes for history, slavery - though A reason for the secession of thirteen Southern states - was not THE reason. Had slavery been the issue, then Abraham Lincoln's offer of the Corwin Amendment (google it) which gave slavery constitutional protection in perpetuity would have kept the South in the Union.

The issues which led to secession existed from the very start of the nation with the ideological split between Jefferson/Madison (strong sovereign states protecting the rights of the People vs. a weak federal government) and Adams/Hamilton (strong central government involved directly with the people - democracy - and very weak states). By 1860, the confiscatory tariffs which burdened only the South resulted in 75% of the tax revenues of the federal government coming from that region. On the other hand, only a small portion of that money was returned to those states, the rest going to commercial interests in the North. With new territories and states entering the Union, the people of the South realized that they were going to become a permanent minority unable to prevent the increasing strength of the federal government from turning them into a permanent "cash cow" for the rest of the Union. The result was secession.

The motives for secession were no different than the motives that caused the original 13 colonies to "secede" from Great Britain. Indeed, the South saw itself as being taxed without having sufficient representation to protect its people. Since the Founders had stated that a people had a right to sever contact with a government that did not represent their will and to found another government more to their liking, the states of the South believed (correctly) that they had the constitutional right to form another nation - which they did. Again, slavery was NOT the issue; liberty, self government and freedom from federal tyranny were.

But the South was not alone in that belief. In 1847, a young Congressman from Illinois stated on the floor of the House:

“Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right, a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world.”

This would not be anything of great moment until one learns the name of this young defender of secession: Abraham Lincoln.

The people of Virginia and the South have no reason on God's earth to be ashamed of their noble heritage. Indeed, the fact that it has brought a storm of criticism only proves that the people of this country need to learn the facts of history rather than the myths - and then there would be no need for this question.