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Notes -
I don't know for sure. Until 2015 the creed of the "Children of the Confederacy of the United Daughters of the Confederacy" stated that the war was not fought to sustain slavery, which means you can identify with the CSA without advocating for slavery.
I think it’s important to disambiguate the cause of the CSA from the Redeemer and post war conservative Southern causes. The core telos of the CSA was the maintenance of slavery and planter dominance. All of its leadership agreed on that. Post war Southern conservatives from the Redeemers onward desired different things. There is overlap, such as both wanting to limit Yankee power more or less and support for white supremacy until the 60s, but they are different political projects.
Groups like Daughters of the Confederacy use the history of the CSA for their own purposes, but they don’t share the same ends. The CSA response to the question of “Was the US Civil War about slavery?” Is “YesChad. Slavery needs to protected.”
The confederacy fought because they believed the planter class was owed a veto right over federal policy, and they had pre-abolitionist dust ups over this regularly. They seceded after losing control of the senate and then the presidency in quick succession, not in response to any specific policies.
In the 1860’s, this was specifically manifested as slavery. But they’d previously gotten into it with pro-slavery presidents. The non-slavery parts of the CSA constitution are also revealing- all about Plutocracy and the natural rights of large landholders to govern.
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