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Confederate History Month

Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by poncho, Apr 10, 2010.

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  1. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    Virginia's governor has declared April "Confederate History Month". Seems like there's alot of fuss over it so I thought it might be interesting to start a thread about it.

    Should states celebrate a Confederate History Month?

    I myself think it might be a good thing if Americans learned more about our history in that period.

    How about you?
     
    #1 poncho, Apr 10, 2010
  2. NiteShift

    NiteShift New Member

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    We can recognize the bravery of Russian troops in WWII without being in favor of communism. We are able to admire the skill of the German soldiers & their commanders and still know that the Nazis had to be defeated. We should be able to honor Rebel soldiers for their valor and at the same time condemn the institution of slavery. Being from a border state, I had people on both sides of the Civil War and am proud of them equally. When I was young they were fairly even-handed when teaching on the subject in school. Am not sure that would be possible anymore.
     
    #2 NiteShift, Apr 10, 2010
  3. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    Genesis of the Civil War

    [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]The historical event that looms largest in American public consciousness is the Civil War. One-hundred thirty-nine years after the first shot was fired, its genesis is still fiercely debated and its symbols heralded and protested. And no wonder: the event transformed the American regime from a federalist system based on freedom to a centralized state that circumscribed liberty in the name of public order. The cataclysmic event massacred a generation of young men, burned and looted the Southern states, set a precedent for executive dictatorship, and transformed the American military from a citizen-based defense corps into a global military power that can’t resist intervention.[/FONT]​

    [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]And yet, if you listen to the media on the subject, you might think that the entire issue of the Civil War comes down to race and slavery. If you favor Confederate symbols, it means you are a white person unsympathetic to the plight of blacks in America. If you favor abolishing Confederate History Month and taking down the flag, you are an enlightened thinker willing to bury the past so we can look forward to a bright future under progressive leadership. The debate rarely goes beyond these simplistic slogans.[/FONT]​

    [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]And yet this take on the event is wildly ahistorical. It takes Northern war propaganda at face value without considering that the South had solid legal, moral, and economic reasons for secession which had nothing to do with slavery. Even the name "Civil War" is misleading, since the war wasn’t about two sides fighting to run the central government as in the English or Roman civil wars. The South attempted a peaceful secession from federal control, an ambition no different from the original American plea for independence from Britain.[/FONT]​

    [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]But why would the South want to secede? If the original American ideal of federalism and constitutionalism had survived to 1860, the South would not have needed to. But one issue loomed larger than any other in that year as in the previous three decades: the Northern tariff. It was imposed to benefit Northern industrial interests by subsidizing their production through public works. But it had the effect of forcing the South to pay more for manufactured goods and disproportionately taxing it to support the central government. It also injured the South’s trading relations with other parts of the world. [/FONT]​

    [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]In effect, the South was being looted to pay for the North’s early version of industrial policy. The battle over the tariff began in 1828, with the "tariff of abomination." Thirty year later, with the South paying 87 percent of federal tariff revenue while having their livelihoods threatened by protectionist legislation, it became impossible for the two regions to be governed under the same regime. The South as a region was being reduced to a slave status, with the federal government as its master.[/FONT]​

    [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]But why 1860?[/FONT]

    ​

     
    #3 poncho, Apr 10, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 10, 2010
  4. billwald

    billwald New Member

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    It might provide a balance for Black History Month.

    With so much dispute about the cause of our Revolution of 1865 and the execution of JFK . . . how can some of you be so positive about resolving the historical differences reported in the Gospels? (For those who learned English as a 2nd language, please note that this sentence ONLY refers to YOUR interpretation)
     
    #4 billwald, Apr 10, 2010
  5. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Poncho - excellent post :thumbsup:

    I believe we should honor those Confederates who fought for States Rights in the War Between the States aka War of Northern Aggression

    Salty
    Yankee by Birth, Texan by Choice
     
    #5 Salty, Apr 10, 2010
  6. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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    #6 Jerome, Apr 10, 2010
  7. Steven2006

    Steven2006 New Member

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    Studying history and this period is a good thing.

    Celebrating the confederacy is not a good idea.
     
    #7 Steven2006, Apr 10, 2010
  8. preachinjesus

    preachinjesus Well-Known Member
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    Yep...the celebration of a losing cause doesn't make sense to me...:thumbsup:
     
    #8 preachinjesus, Apr 10, 2010
  9. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    I do not see it as celebrating a lost cause, but rather to honor those who fought for the orginial intent of the US Constitution.
     
    #9 Salty, Apr 10, 2010
  10. preachinjesus

    preachinjesus Well-Known Member
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    Yes, particularly the 3/5ths counting principle...

    Name any other racist insurrection that is commemorated as heritage and I'll buy ya a virtual donut. :)
     
    #10 preachinjesus, Apr 11, 2010
  11. Robert Snow

    Robert Snow New Member

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    I would agree, if that were the facts. The South was wrong, Abraham Lincoln knew it, and thank God the South lost the war.

    Any group of people who would fight to keep other men in slavery cannot be right.

    BTW, I am a Texan both by birth and by choice, but that doesn't mean that I agree with everything Texas does.
     
    #11 Robert Snow, Apr 11, 2010
  12. SaggyWoman

    SaggyWoman Active Member

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    How can we integrate Pearl Harbor?

    Maybe we can "celebrate" the involvement of Asians that fought for the US.
     
    #12 SaggyWoman, Apr 11, 2010
  13. NiteShift

    NiteShift New Member

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    "I mean to destroy the whites and leave not one upon our lands" - Pontiac
     
    #13 NiteShift, Apr 12, 2010
  14. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    and then he gets a car named after him
     
    #14 Salty, Apr 12, 2010
  15. NiteShift

    NiteShift New Member

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    :laugh: I want doughnuts
     
    #15 NiteShift, Apr 12, 2010
  16. preachinjesus

    preachinjesus Well-Known Member
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    I don't see anyone celebrating this guy on the same level as Confederate History Month. Has someone given Chief Pontiac a month and we don't know it?

    Yeah, do ya have a citation also? His use of white referred to the French who had taken his lands, to my knowledge, and he was quite good friends with the British.

    Besides, we named the car after the town in Michigan where it is/was made.

    No donuts for you! Two weeks.
     
    #16 preachinjesus, Apr 12, 2010
  17. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    No donuts for you three weeks

    where do you think the town got its name from? :rolleyes:
     
    #17 Salty, Apr 12, 2010
  18. billwald

    billwald New Member

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    It is a GOD Given right to be wrong

    >The South was wrong, Abraham Lincoln knew it, and thank God the South lost the war.

    THAT is immaterial to any discussion of political freedom and autonomy. People have a right to be wrong. Most of you think that Democrats are wrong. Do they have a right to be wrong or should the Democrat Party be outlawed? The Communist Party?
     
    #18 billwald, Apr 12, 2010
  19. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    It's up to the states whether or not they want to acknowledge those brave men who fought for them.

    Personally, I'm all for it. It seems like the more history I read and the more I compare the causes of the War of Yankee Agression with what our Congressclowns are doing today, the more I believe they were heroes.

    We celebrate Robert E. Lee's birthday every year.
     
    #19 JohnDeereFan, Apr 12, 2010
  20. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    Yeah, darn those Southerners for wanting the federal government to honor the Constitution! What were they thinking?

    They weren't fighting to keep other men in slavery. They were fighting for the sovereignty of their states and against a federal government that demonstrated that it had no intention of honoring it's covenant with the states.

    Regardless of what Hollywood would have you believe, only a very, very small percentage of people in the South owned slaves. What's more, even those in the South acknowledged that slavery was economically untenable and would most likely have died, anyway, by the end of the 1880's.

    I would strongly encourage you to investigate Lee's reasons for fighting for the South. His decision to go to war in defense of his beloved Virginia is typical of the men who fought for the South.

    Out of curiousity, do you really believe that the Black Confederates were fighting for slavery?
     
    #20 JohnDeereFan, Apr 12, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 12, 2010
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