Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
In the south, reconstruction left more bitter scars than did the war.
I feel that is some what true.
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What is your opinion on reconstruction?
I don't like comparisons but reconstruction was needed, I'm not sure if it happened in the proper manner but every country needs reconstruction after a war.
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Was reconstruction fair?
I wasn't there and I have not studied enough to make a valid statement but from what I have heard I am leaning twards no, it was not fair and bias in favor of the north. But we must not forget the south had just lost a major industry, slavery (thank God it was abolished).
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Was Seward right or wrong, should the south have been made to pay for its "wrongs" against the Union?
Wrong, I don't see any transgressions or sins. Of course wouldnt any other old southern boy say the same.
Thanks for bringing up the topic for debate,
Judson L. Watkins
2nd Lt. Commander
8th Brigade Texas--SCV
"The Rev. Mr. Brownlow, [also Governor] of Tenn., uttered a sentiment at Philadelphia, according to the telegraph, on Saturday, that is worthy only of a worshiper of Molech. He wants another war, and he would have the Southern people utterly exterminated by fire and slaughter, and their lands appropriated for the benefit of others. He says he would have the invading forces divided into three classes; the first to do the 'killing,' the second to carry the fire and do the 'burning,' and the third to partition out the lands to the invaders. The telegraph says the sentiment was received with cheers! This monster of cruelty would have the Southern people murdered and their houses and all they have reduced to smouldering heaps of blackened cinders. He would delight to see women and children, the infirm and the aged, flying in terror and alarm from burning dwellings, and falling down in their own blood while attempting to escape! He would imitate the poor savages who never heard of the Christian's God, and make of the South a wide waste, from which no sounds should be heard but the moaning of slaughtered victims, the flapping of vultures' wings, and the howls of wild beasts seeking their prey. And this he would call peace! This is the Union he proposes! They call the assemblage at Philadelphia where such a speech is cheered a meeting of LOYALISTS. Loyal to what? Loyal to civilization, to common humanity, to the least grain of common sense, or the instincts of decency? That cannot be where such a discourse as Brownlow’s elicits applause. They must mean loyalty to cannibal *******ity and ferocity; loyalty to all the passions that make men demons; loyalty to Molech and 'immortal hate.' If a viler, blacker, more horrible, more Satanic, disgraceful, or infamous a sentiment was ever uttered, we have never heard of it, either in ancient or modern times. It is charitably believed by many that the Rev. Mr. Brownlow is crazy. Certainly it seems difficult to account for such an avowal as the one referred to upon any other theory. But were the listeners at Philadelphia crazy too? What are we coming to? Are multitudes of our fellow countrymen losing their reason?
Unless the sane men of this country rebuke this spirit, the United States will ere long be blotted out from the map of nations, and become the by-word and scorn and hissing of the whole earth."
And the Gov/Rev. Barnlow's wishes were carried out when?
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
Governor Brownlow was the abolitionist equivalent to Robert Barnwell Rhett, Edmond Ruffin, et alii. Little men with big mouths. At least the secessionists had four years; at least Brownlow got reined in before he could do much damage.
I note that we're back to quoting flowery, vehement editorials. I suspect the Louisville Journal's ranting was balanced by northern editorials urging moderation.
Ole
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Mr. Watkins, sir:
Thank you for your rational post. Like the war itself, no one knew how to do it right, so it was a mess. By and large, the intentions were good. It just happened, as might be expected, there were some doggone radical vengeance-seeking nutcases in the north. None of which does the confederate any credit for his non-cooperation and efforts to restore the colored to his "proper place."
Nasty time. Like you, I have only a nodding acquaintance with the reconstruction period, but I have been nibbling at the edges. Guess if there's enough interest and discussion on the subject, I'll have to isolate my books on the subject and open them for the first time.
Game?
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
"The Rev. Mr. Brownlow, [also Governor] of Tenn., uttered a sentiment at Philadelphia, according to the telegraph, ... Louisville Journal, September 1866
Battalion,
What did you intend to say when you quoted this editorial?
Neil, I also was interested enough to order that book, "After the War: A Southern Tour" by Whitelaw Reid.
Sam: I'm expecting my copy to arrive sometime next Wednesday. Another interesting take on the period is Trowbridge's Desolate South. Sounds like Reid's take will be similar -- sort through the righteous rant and there are nuggets of revelation.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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