1776 & 1861. - Page 35

chadutes · #**341** 08-09-2007, 01:29 AM

UnionBlue, I really like the quote you posted. My first thoughts that came to mind was that of a group of people who wanted to venture off and start a new. To break away from those holding them down or stopping their progress. To maybe live their lives with out having someone looking over the shoulders. It appears they wanted these things so bad that they wouldn't allow anybody to interfere with their dreams. That maybe they allowed their oppressors traits to be theirs.

I know it might sound crazy, but it's what I felt when I read that quote.

Chadutes......................

unionblue · #**342** 08-09-2007, 06:37 AM

chadutes,

The quote I highlighted was made by cw1865 on another thread, so I cannot take credit for it.

I repeated it here so this thread and its history would not be lost and we could pick up the conversation once more.

Your thoughts and views on the subject are appreciated. I hope we can continue with more views and opinons on 1776 and 1861.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

hawglips · #**343** 08-09-2007, 05:24 PM

The inalienable right to self-government is unchanging. The only real difference is

1776 - colonies were created by the political entity they seceded from

1861 - states created the political entity they seceded from

OpnDownfall · #**344** 08-09-2007, 05:49 PM

Were the slaves in the south endowed by their creator with 'unalienable' rights? It was a question, that caused many masters to have troubled sleep as they listened for things that might go bump in the night.

hawglips · #**345** 08-09-2007, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OpnDownfall

Were the slaves in the south endowed by their creator with 'unalienable' rights? It was a question, that caused many masters to have troubled sleep as they listened for things that might go bump in the night.

Scary stuff, I'm sure.

OpnDownfall, do you think the slave owners and slave traders in New England back in '76 had any trouble sleeping at night?

OpnDownfall · #**346** 08-09-2007, 06:51 PM

Nat Turner, Haiti, Santo Domingo, yes I think fear was not far from their every day thoughts and I am sure they said an extra prayer that the Slave Patrols were doing their job, before they went to bed.

matthew mckeon · #**347** 08-10-2007, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawglips

Scary stuff, I'm sure.

OpnDownfall, do you think the slave owners and slave traders in New England back in '76 had any trouble sleeping at night?

They would have been fools not to. In Paul Revere's famous midnight ride, he describes passing the place where "Mark hung in chains" He was referring to the slave Mark who killed his master, was executed and had his body hung in chains on the public highway. The body and chains were gone by 1775, but the memory lingered.
Mark's weapon was poison and one wonders in an age when people died frequently and from poorly understood causes how many other poisoning cases there were.

During the colonial era, there was a slave conspiracy to burn down New York. In cases like this its hard to seperate out an actual realistic plan from the paranoid fantasies of the authorities. The spirit of the Department of Homeland Security has many ancestors.

Certainly in 1860, slaveowners worried about slaves revolting, and they specifically worried about a Republican adminstration not effectively aiding the South in restraining slave resistance, or encouraging it by allowing abolitionist materials to travel in the mail, or not enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law etc.

Last bit about poison. Mary Chesnut recording a dinner at her father in laws houses(whom she disliked). As the soup course was served, a batty elderly relative suddenly cried out that the slaves had poisoned the soup. A silence. The serving staff remained impassive, and then the meal went on, although, perhaps with diminished appetites.