Re: OT:Thanksgiving



<docdwarf@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:fimmjs$r0q$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <ZMA3j.19766$K27.16492@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Judson McClendon <judmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[snip]

Most early Americans fled oppression in Europe, and did not like
the idea of a powerful central government here.

(The primary reason for the U.S. Civil War was to reverse this, not to
free slaves, as is commonly thought. Freeing slaves was the
tentative excuse, but not the reason.

Mr McClendon, several people have disagreed with this assertion... one of
them was Alexander H. Stephens, who addressed this very matter in a speech
he gave on 21 March 1861 in Savannah, Georgia, USA.

From http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=76

--begin quoted text:

But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better,
allow me to allude to one other - though last, not least. The new
constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions
relating to our peculiar institution - African slavery as it exists
amongst us - the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization.
This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution.

[snip]

The prevailing ideas entertained by him (Thomas Jeferson - ed) and most of
the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old
constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of
the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and
politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the
general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the
order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away.

[snip]

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its
foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that
the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery - subordination to
the superior race - is his natural and normal condition. This, our new
government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this
great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

--end quoted text

Slavery was 'the immediate cause of the late rupture and present
revolution' and the corner-stone of the Confederacy was 'the great truth
tha the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery - subordination
to the superior race - is his natural and normal condition'.

So asserted Mr Stephens... who was the Vice President of the Confederate
States of America. What would *he* know about the reasoning behind the
Civil War, anyhow?

Thanks for that, Doc.

Like Judson's piece, I read it with great interest.

I was quite surprised by the revulsion that the last quoted paragraph evoked
as I read it. Obviously, the world in 1861 was quite different from the
world in 2007, and I don't doubt that Mr. Stevens was sincere in his belief.
He was probably a thorough Southern Gentleman in every way, gracious to
ladies, God fearing, and honourable in battle. We are complex creatures...

Sadly, I have encountered people in the US, even recently, who genuinely
believe that Negroes are an inferior species and should be tended like
cattle, as God requires us to take care of them. (Southern Baptist...
although I'm sure (hopeful) not ALL Southern Baptists can believe this...).
These are not wicked, evil people. (In fact some of them were kind, decent,
and generous.) They are a product of their environment and we should just be
thankful that environment is being eroded by education.

(In my opinion, it still has a way to go, but I am encouraged by the legal
dismissal of "Intelligent Design" and such cases... I have no problem with
people believing whatever they want to, until they get commands from God to
suppress the search for knowledge and understanding and to believe that the
"unchosen" are inferior and should be treated as such...)

Pete.
--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."


.

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