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There are probably several reasons why the South and North reconciled, not least being that the federal government virtually abandoned the freedmen in 1876, and allowed the establishment of white supermacy governments, and all that entailed. This removed a central issue between the two sections-temporarily at least.
Butress my point by citing your link to the black PhD with a genocidal tendency? :-) ;-)
I saw the interview on Fox News a couple nights ago. The host who invited the 'genocidal' doc NEVER disagreed TOTALLY with his visitor's comment; a frequent occurance however.
Did you hear the black leader who stated that Hurricane Katrina was 'directed' by whites to destroy blacks? KRIKE, mate, that would take some SERIOUS sience! ;-)
But more so than all of the above, I believe the primary reason lies in the path we took in 1861. An all-powerful central government can keep any dog it chooses to at bay. I see this as Lincoln's greatest legacy.Hal
Hal:
I agree that an 'all-powerful central government' is Lincoln's greatest legacy. The break up of the United States is inevitable and I see quite clearly the decline of American intimacy.
Twelve years of reconstructing the South after the Civil War not only humiliated Southerners and taught them 'their place in America; ' but it also kept the South financially insecure until well into the twentieth century. And any attempt to rise above enervation has been met by playing the race card from the bottom of the deck.
How can this not keep the South in a state of moral and spiritual confinement?
I am very puzzeled by the views you hold that the US became something of an all-powerful, centralized government after the Civil War.
In what way? The military was reduced to a number below that of the pre-civil war one (about 7,000 men). Government contracts were cancelled in mass right after Lee's surrender, so I don't understand the business angle and big government. Every conflict after the Civil War the US was completely unprepared for (Spanish-American War, Pershing in Mexico, WWI, and WWII, & Korea). The FBI was an unkown agency with no right to bear arms and there was no CIA or ICC or other government agencies that abound today.
So how did the war beginning in 1861 signal the rise of big government and why is it 'Lincoln's legacy'? I myself see nothing of the sort until about the FDR administration in the 1930's to combat the Great Depression. In other words, big, centralized government is a much more recent invention, not Lincoln's, in my view.
As to the break-up of the US, I can see from history nothing is forever, but some nations have a very long run. England is still here and has a thousand years of continous history. Italy, China, Japan and others. While the world stage and the power players may change, I cannot myself see anything befalling the US in terms of breakup in the near future, say the next 200 years or so.
Dawna, 'the decline of American intimacy?' Could you elaborate, please?
Sincerely,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
"England is still here and has a thousand years of continous history."
True, but England is a tiny and naturally self-contained society. The United States is unfeasibly large. And my bet is that, if China ever becomes a democracy, it will also fragment for precisely the same reason: it's just too darned big.
I really don't see how you can look as far as 200 years into the future and predict anything. I wouldn't forecast the survival of humanity for the next 200 years with any particular confidence, let alone any country.
I'm with UnionBlue. It's been my impression as well that the increasing role played by the Federal government was not a straight-line progression and that, instead, the role of Federal government diminished significantly after the Civil War and through the early years of the 20th Century, then increased again perhaps beginning with WWI and really picked up steam under FDR.
It strikes me that one way to get a rough handle on this would be to look into Federal government spending on a year-by-year basis. To insure accuracy, the resulting figures would have to be adjusted for inflation, or perhaps taken as a percentage of GNP or some similar index. I haven't done the work. Any volunteers?
Hal & Dawna,I am very puzzeled by the views you hold that the US became something of an all-powerful, centralized government after the Civil War.
Neil:
The precedence for 'big government' was established during the Lincoln administration, when it settled by force whether or not a state could secede. The war paved the way for the weakening of basic constitutional protections against central government exploitation, and further laid to rest the notion that "governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Restrictions on federal power have, for the most part, disappeared.
And prior to President Roosevelt's term in office, lest we forget the notorious corruption of the Grant administration.
"As to the break-up of the US, I can see from history nothing is forever, but some nations have a very long run. England is still here and has a thousand years of continous history. Italy, China, Japan and others. While the world stage and the power players may change, I cannot myself see anything befalling the US in terms of breakup in the near future, say the next 200 years or so."
But it will happen...every 'super power' has it's day.
"Dawna, 'the decline of American intimacy?' Could you elaborate, please?"
I would be happy to elaborate Neil. It seems to me that American citizens do not have the same spirit of liberty and constitutional respect that was once the foundation of the United States. It's apparent that Americans have become alienated from their government, and ongoing differences in social, political, economical structures; and the fight against crime, unemployment, and the many issues that have been raised as a result of mass immigration - all of this, and more, has retailored the affinity that once held America together.
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