VERY cool stuff

Thu 07th Apr 2011 at 2:45 pm

Why do we feel we are “going out on a limb” to say the Civil War was about slavery?

Why does Professor Bright — or anyone — have to tip toe through a verbal mine field of political correctness to even say it “nicely”

I remember 40 years ago in college, believing all my professors told me. No one was really “at fault”. The Civil War was a tragedy, almost a misunderstanding. Good men on both sides, gosh darn it!

Then google came along. They put Southern ( and Northern) newspapers online from1790 on –they put Southern books on line. They put Southern speeches and documents and sermons online. They put Southern documents on line.

Reading Southern newspapers from 1858-1860 was like walking into Mars. WOW — no one told me THIS stuff! NO ONE. Not my history professors, not my text books, not my encyclopedias. Where on EARTH did all this stuff come from?

Bragging about chasing down ordinary citizens, years before the war, for just saying they were against slavery. Bragging about slave dogs and their training to attack blacks, to terrorize them to keep them in place.

But much more — Southern Ultimatums –who ever HEARD of those? Five Ultimatums issued by Southern leaders — as reported by Southern newspapers at the time. Richmond newspapers called the Ultimatums “THE TRUE ISSUE”.

What? The true issue was WHAT? According to Southern newspapers — the spread of slavery was the true issue. They weren’t admitting it, they were BRAGGING about it.

All five Southern Ultimatums were about the same thing — the spread of slavery. Essentially, have war, or allow slavery to be spread.

And more baffling — this was AFTER secession. The South had already seceded (most of it) but had not yet attacked. But there would be an attack – if LIncoln did not obey these Ultimatums. And there was an attack.

New York papers reported the Southern Ultimatums too — FAVORABLY! Their editors suggest Lincoln obey the ultimatums, to avoid war.

Funny how no known text book, to this day, can find room to even mention the Southern Ultimatums, as reported in headlines in Southern newspapers at the time.

But our text books can take up a page describing the belts and canteens the soldiers used. Very strange!

Problem was — the Ultimatums were a “bridge too far”. The South made Lincoln an offer he could not ACCEPT.

In the Ultimatums, the demand was that Kansas (the territories) must “accept and respect slavery” and that Congress MUST FORCE them too. The US congress must force the people in Kansas to accept and respect slavery.

How on earth was Lincoln supposed to force the people in Kansas to accept and respect slavery. It’s absurd on it’s face. It’s like as if Hitler had demanded that England invade Poland for the amusement of Germany. Yes, it’s that preposterous.

Where was THIS in my history books? This was the Southern headlines, describing their own Southern leaders actions.

Toombs screaming “EXPAND OR PERISH” — he was talking about slavery. Expand it or perish. Where was that in my history books? If it was there, I missed it. The governor of Florida in his own official Declaration of Causes wrote “just stopping the spread of slavery is like burning us to death slowly” Where was that?

Jeff Davis — writing years later — said “the intolerable grievance” that caused secession was someone in the North (he meant Lincoln) speaking badly about DRED SCOTT decision. That decision by Southern jurist that said blacks were “so inferior” that no white man could reasonably believe they had ANY rights given by God, and that furthermore — no state or Congress could grant them any rights!

Where was Davis own “intolerable grievance” theory reflected in our history books? And for that matter — while we learned a lot about where Dred Scott the person travelled — no one said ONE WORD about the astonishing “inferiority” of the black race, as pronounced by Southern jurists.

Where were all kinds of things? I found this and much much more in SOUTHERN newspapers! Southern books at the time, Southern speeches. Davis’s books are online on Google books.

Don’t bother with “historians” making this clear. If they tell us at all, they tell us in code. I have seen, in half dozen text books, Davis quote of “We just want to be left alone”. Never once have I seen any mention of the Southern Ultimatums to spread slavery, or face war.

Somehow vast amounts of really amazing things rested in Southern newspapers and books, never to journey forward, never to reach your history books,

I am as much surprised by the “historians” and “history professors” who let this, and much much more, rest like corpse in the grave of unreported newspapers and books, as I am surprised by the material itself. Did I miss it? Did I miss a day of history class, when all this was covered?

Did I accidentally turn two pages in my text books, at once, and this stuff was on the page I missed? Where was all this?.

I suggest if we can’t teach the “gritty truth” of what led up to the Civil War — let’s not teach it at all.