You cannot hide from History, it is what it is. Oh, lies can be told about it, but my bet is always about reality winning in the end.
Wise Captain
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
The way they still call them traitors when they were pardoned, trying to ignite past animosity, they should be put in stocks for a day
My kids used to get sick of me saying “At some point, reality intrudes…” when they were spouting some nonsence they learned in college. Probably why they got me a cap that says “Reality is undefeated”.
Agree, although I’ve never understood the admiration of the Lost Cause and attempts to paint the Confederacy as anything more than a government built to defend chattel slavery and the worst abuse of the 10th Amendment. And the defense that “they thought they were right” is as poor a defense for the Confederacy as it was for everyone from Martin Luther to Mao. Nearly every person who takes a wrong position does so from a position of heartfelt conviction. It doesn’t excuse the error.
It thought it was wrong to take down the statues on Monument Ave in Richmond, and was sad to see them gone. I always advocated “adding to” instead of taking down. I think a proper “adding to” would have been a statue of men of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, a mixed black and white regiment, which Hamilton picked to lead in the assault on Redoubt No 10. This was instrumental in the victory at Yorktown, leading to the commonwealth of Virginia and the rest of the US’s independence from England.
What an excellent idea BPS! I have long thought that the valiant men of the 1st Rhode Island deserved more recognition than they have received.
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I suggest taking up a collection to create a statue of Ozymandias in the Black Hills, along with an inscription of the poem. A place for solemn reflection.
“…I’ve never understood the admiration of the Lost Cause and attempts to paint the Confederacy as anything more than a government built to defend chattel slavery…”
If I honestly examine the Confederacy in it’s own historical context, I think this might oversimplify the problem. If they fought for slavery, more importantly, they fought for their own right to decide.
The original Declaration of Independence talked about the thirteen united States, not the United States. We too often miss the distinction today. New Yorkers might view themselves as.. New Yorkers. Virginians as…Virginians. People being “American” wasn’t nearly the emphasis as now.
While the Federal government had more power under the Constitution than under the Articles, ..it still had distinct limits. Each State had it’s own rights. Federal authority required agreement from a majority in both House and Senate; President and Supreme Court must also agree. Even that construct had required considerable debate to reach agreement.
…and had never been unanimous.
In our day, consider abortion. A present-day candidate might tell us he would abolish abortion, …all we need do is surrender our right to vote.
I must think most of us would legitimately object.
I suspect the South viewed choices about slavery much the same way.